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THE   STORY   OF 
THE   NEW   ENGLAND   WHALERS 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON  •    CHICAGO 
ATLANTA  •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Li 

TORONTO 


/ 


Ready  to  Sail 


THE   STORY  OF 

THE    NEW     ENGLAND 

WHALERS 


BY 
JOHN    R.    SPEARS 


Nifo 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1922 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1908, 
Bv  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotypcd.     Published  September,  1908. 


Norwood  Preu 

J.  S.  Cuibing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  O>. 
Norwood,  Matt.,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  SAMUEL  MULFORD,  ALONGSHORE  WHALER          .          I 

II.  TOLD  OF  THE  RED  INDIAN  WHALERS        .          .        1 8 

III.  EARLY  DAYS  ON  NANTUCKET  .          .          .        38 

IV.  THE  MINOR  COLONIAL   PORTS         .          .          .        73 
V.  NANTUCKET  IN  THE  WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION         85 

VI.  A  LONG  PERIOD  OF  DEPRESSION      ...        97 

VII.  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  EXPLORERS       .          .          .123 

VIII.  WHALES  AS  THE  WHALERS  KNEW  THEM   .          .      159 

IX.  HARPOONS,   LANCES,   GUNS,   AND  BOATS    .          .      203 

X.  SKETCHES  AFLOAT  WITH  THE  WHALERS     .          .      244 

XI.  WORX  OF  THE  FIGHTING  WHALES  .          .          .286 

XII.  WHALING  AS  A  BUSINESS  ENTERPRISE         .  ^^_-_  312- 

XIII.  THE  MUTINEERS  AND  SLAVERS         .         .          -34° 

XIV.  TALES  OF  WHALERS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  .      365 
XV.  IN  THE  LATER  DAYS    .         .         .         .          •     394 


961710 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

Ready  to  sail  ......    Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

Trying  out  blubber  on  deck        .          .          .          .          .68 

Towing  whales  to  the  Onondar  Fiord  trying  house,  Ice- 
land      .          .          .          *    '    -.          .          .          .128 

Off  for  a  two  years'  cruise          .          .       .   .          .          .160 

Sperm  whaling  —  The  chase      .          .          .          .          .      188 

Entangled  whale  diving     .          .          .          .          .          .226 

Cutting  in  a  whale  .          .          .          .          .          .          .276 

Ships  receiving  the  captains,  officers,  and  crews  of  aban- 
doned ships     ...          .          .  .          .          .      304 

View  of  the  Stone  Fleet  which  sailed  from  New  Bedford, 

November  16,  1861  .          .          .          .          .      384 

Abandonment  of  the  whalers  in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  Sep- 
tember, 1871  ......     402 


TO 

ALL  WHO    PULL  TO   THE   TUNE   OF 
"A   DEAD   WHALE   OR   A  STOVE   BOAT" 


I 

SAMUEL  MULFORD,  ALONGSHORE 
WHALER 

AT  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Easthampton,  Long  Island,  held  on 
November  6,  1651,  "It  was  ordered 
that  Goodman  Mulford  shall  call  out  ye  town  by 
succession  to  loke  for  Whale." 

"Goodman,"  as  the  reader  will  remember, 
was  not  a  given  name  but  a  title  that  was  applied 
to  citizens  who  were  not  of  the  aristocracy. 
"Goodman"  Mulford  had  been  christened  John. 
He  was  of  the  peasantry,  but  the  fact  that  he 
was  chosen  to  the  office  mentioned  shows  that  he 
was  a  man  of  influence  in  the  community,  and  of 
tried  impartiality  as  well. 

Restless  Englishmen  from  the  settlements  on 
Massachusetts  Bay  had  scattered  themselves  along 
the  coasts  to  the  south  and  west,  and  crossing 
Long  Island  Sound  (the  first  purchasers  numbered 

8  I 


2     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

thirty-five),  they  had  formed  a  settlement  at  the 
easterly  end  of  Long  Island  as  early  as  1640. 

Long  Island  was  a  goodly  country  in  its  soil 
and  climate.  Prodigious  crops  of  wheat  could 
be  raised,  and  prodigious  crops  of  truck  are  yet 
raised  there.  And  what  was  of  more  importance 
to  this  story,  the  sea,  just  off  the  dune-lined  beach, 
was  a  natural  feeding  ground  for  whales  at  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year. 

The  pioneers  on  Massachusetts  Bay,  with  their 
followers,  seem  to  have  had  some  knowledge  of 
the  whale  fishery.  When  the  Mayflower  had 
anchored  inside  of  Cape  Cod,  the  Pilgrims  ob- 
served that  "large  whales  of  the  best  kind  for 
oil  and  bone  came  daily  alongside  and  played 
about  the  ship.  The  master  and  his  mate  and 
others  experienced  in  fishing  preferred  it  to  the 
Greenland  whale  fishery."  Because  of  the  num- 
ber of  whales  seen  there  some  of  the  Pilgrims 
wished  to  settle  on  the  cape  rather  than  go  on  in 
search  of  another  location,  for  they  had  come  to 
establish  a  fishing  colony  as  well  as  in  search  of 
"freedom  to  worship  God." 

As  the  products  of  the  whale  formed  an  impor- 


Samuel  Mulford,  Alongshore  Whaler         3 

tant  source  of  income  to  the  first  settlers  on  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay,  the  prospectors  who  came  to  Long 
Island  to  spy  out  the  land  looked  away  across  the 
surf,  as  well  as  at  the  soil  in  the  clearings  the 
Indians  had  made;  and  seeing  the  familiar  spout 
of  the  right  whale  out  at  sea  confirmed  them  in 
the  good  opinion  of  the  locality  which  an  inspec- 
tion of  the  soil  had  already  given  them.  More- 
over they  learned  from  the  Indians  that  "  drift 
whales,"  namely,  those  that  had  died  from  natural 
causes,  were  often  to  be  found  on  the  beach. 

It  is  manifest  from  the  records  that  the  whale 
fishery  was  prosecuted  on  Long  Island  almost 
from  the  first  day  the  settlers  arrived.  In  March, 
1644,  the  settlers  divided  themselves  into  four 
wards  of  eleven  persons  each  to  attend  to  the 
drift  whales  cast  ashore,  and  it  was  voted  that, 
when  such  a  whale  was  found,  "  Every  inhabitant, 
with  his  child  or  servant  that  is  above  sixteen 
years  of  age,"  should  share  equally  in  the  products, 
save  only  as  two  men  who  were  appointed  to  cut 
up  the  carcass  were  to  have  two  shares  each. 

The  active  work  of  hunting  live  whales  was 
carried  on  at  the  Long  Island  settlement  after  a 


4    The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

fashion  that  had  already  been  established  on 
Massachusetts  Bay.  Boats  fit  to  launch  through 
the  surf  were  built  by  the  community,  and,  with 
the  necessary  implements,  these  boats  were  held 
in  readiness  to  go  in  pursuit  of  any  whale  that 
might  be  seen  offshore.  To  make  sure  that  every 
whale  that  came  near  the  beach  would  be  seen  it 
was  necessary  to  keep  some  one  constantly  on 
watch  alongshore.  To  give  such  lookouts  a  wide 
range  of  vision  the  settlers  erected  among  the 
dunes  a  number  of  tall  spars,  fitted  with  wooden 
pins  up  which  the  lookouts  could  climb,  with 
perches  or  seats  at  the  top.  Further  than  that, 
a  well-thatched  hut  was  built,  here  and  there, 
near  the  beach  to  serve  as  a  shelter  from  heavy 
storms;  for  the  whales  "struck  in"  along  that 
beach  in  winter  —  from  November  to  April. 

Naturally,  the  work  of  the  lookout  was  irk- 
some and  distasteful  even  to  settlers  inured  to 
hardship.  The  perch  on  the  spar  was  an  uncom- 
fortable seat  in  the  best  of  weather,  and  a  gale  of 
wind  searched  the  hut,  in  spite  of  the  fire  that 
was  built,  for  every  hut  was  open  on  the  side 
toward  the  sea.  However  energetic  these  settlers 


Samuel  Mulford,  Alongshore  Whaler         5 

might  be  in  the  actual  work  of  killing  a  whale 
and  preparing  the  products  for  market,  some  of 
them  would  shirk  their  tours  of  duty  on  lookout. 
Shirking  roused  the  anger  of  those  who  did  not 
shirk,  and  therefore,  to  preserve  peace  in  the 
community,  it  was  necessary  to  give  some  one 
authority  "to  call  out  ye  town  to  loke  for  Whale." 

To  this  delicate  and  thankless  task  "Good- 
man" John  Mulford  was  called  in  1651.  It  may 
be  noted  also  that  he  was  chosen  to  serve  as 
magistrate  during  the  same  year. 

It  has  seemed  important  to  give  these  facts 
about  the  whaler  settlers  of  Long  Island,  partly 
to  set  forth  something  of  the  character  of  their 
work,  but  chiefly  because  "Goodman"  John  Mul- 
ford was  the  father  of  Samuel  Mulford,  who  was 
not  only  the  most  notable  whaler  of  his  day,  but 
a  patriot  of  the  colonial  period,  whose  work  has 
never  received  the  attention  it  has  merited. 

Samuel  was  six  years  old  when,  in  1651,  his 
father  was  authorized  to  "call  out  ye  town  to 
loke  for  Whale. "  In  connection  with  his  career 
it  will  be  interesting  to  consider  a  peculiar  feature 
of  the  work  of  the  whalers  among  whom  he  was 


6       The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

raised.  It  was  the  custom  to  employ  the  natives 
of  the  island,  the  red  Indians,  in  the  boats  used 
for  pursuing  the  whales.  The  story  of  the  Indian 
as  a  whaler  shall  be  told  in  the  next  chapter,  but 
it  may  be  noted  here  that  the  tribesmen  of  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  American  coast  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  going  afloat  in  canoes  in  pursuit  of 
whales  before  the  white  man  came,  and  that 
they  succeeded,  now  and  then,  in  worrying  one 
to  death,  though  possessed  of  no  more  efficient 
weapon  than  a  bone  spear  or  a  flint-pointed 
arrow.  And  that  is  to  say  that  they  were  able 
and  courageous  in  the  handling  of  such  weapons 
as  they  had.  How  the  European  invaders  usually 
treated  the  unfortunate  aborigines  is  very  well 
known  to  all  readers;  the  story  as  a  whole  is 
shocking,  but  at  the  east  end  of  Long  Island 
the  white  settlers  employed  the  Indians  as  whal- 
ers instead  of  exterminating  them.  Moreover,  the 
pay  given  to  the  Indians  when  thus  employed 
was  three  shillings  a  day  at  a  time  when  that  of 
common  white  laborers  was  two  shillings. 

In    fact,    the   competition    of  individual   white 
whalemen   for   the   services   of  the   more   expert 


Samuel  Mulford,  Alongshore  Whaler         7 

red  men  led,  in  time,  to  an  increase  of  the  pay 
given  to  a  point  where  the  white  community  as  a 
whole  deemed  it  necessary  to  enact  a  law  for  the 
regulation  of  the  matter.  The  act  declared  that 
"whosoever  shall  hire  an  Indyan  to  go  a-Whaling, 
shall  not  give  him  for  his  Hire  above  one  Truck- 
ing Cloath  Coat,  for  each  Whale,  hee  and  his 
Company  shall  Kill,  or  halfe  the  Blubber  with- 
out the  Whale  Bone." 

Samuel  Mulford  was  not  only  trained  by  a 
father  who  was  noted  for  his  sense  of  justice,  but 
he  grew  up  in  a  community  that  would  provide 
by  law  that  Indians  might  receive  a  "lay"  of  half 
the  blubber  of  the  whales  they  helped  the  white 
men  to  take. 

The  details  of  the  training  of  Samuel  Mulford 
in  the  actual  work  of  a  whaler  are  not  recorded, 
but  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  he  learned  to 
hurl  the  harpoon  and  use  the  lance  as  soon  as 
he  had  the  strength  to  do  so,  and  that  he  became 
an  expert  in  "saving"  whales.  Further  than 
that,  it  is  certain  that  he  became  a  leader  in  the 
community,  as  his  father,  "Goodman"  John,  had 
been.  As  a  whaler  of  skill  and  a  foremost  citizen 


8       The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

of  his  community,  he  lived  for  about  seventy 
years,  and  he  would  have  died  without  any 
greater  claim  upon  posterity  than  such  a  career 
afforded  but  for  an  arbitrary  attack  that  was 
made,  meantime,  upon  the  rights  of  all  American 
whalers  of  his  day.  When  this  attack  was  made, 
Samuel  Mulford,  animated  by  a  hatred  of  injus- 
tice that  was  hereditary  and  ingrained,  stepped 
forward  alone  as  the  champion  of  his  guild,  and 
won  in  a  fight  that,  as  said,  has  made  his  name 
memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  nation. 

It  was  in  the  days  when  Governor  Robert 
Hunter  ruled  New  York.  Hunter,  in  his  early 
youth,  was  an  apprentice  to  a  druggist,  but  having 
entered  the  British  army,  he  rose  by  good  work 
and  hard  fighting  to  the  rank  of  major  general. 
Then,  at  a  time  when  he  was  not  needed  in  the 
field,  he  was  sent  to  succeed  Governor  Lovelace 
in  New  York.  The  rise  of  the  poor  apprentice 
to  such  high  rank  shows  that  Hunter  was  a  man 
of  uncommon  ability;  and  that  is  not  all  one  may 
learn  in  his  favor.  His  papers  show  that  he  wrote 
French  at  least  as  well  as  he  did  English.  He 
had  educated  himself  while  working  his  way  up 


Samuel  Mulford,  Alongshore  Whaler         9 

in  the  army,  and  "his  intimacy  with  Swift  and 
Addison  and  the  other  wits  of  the  day  affords 
another  proof  of  his  literary  taste." 

Until  he  received  his  commission  as  governor, 
Hunter  had  grasped  at  power  and  position 
chiefly;  in  New  York  he  reached  out  for  wealth 
as  well,  and  thus  fell  foul  of  the  Long  Island 
whalers.  Observing  that  no  tax  was  paid  on  the 
catch  of  whales  within  his  colony,  Hunter  decreed 
that  the  whalemen  should  pay  him  one-twentieth 
of  all  the  oil  and  bone  they  gathered,  not  only 
from  drift  whales,  but  from  those  captured  with 
boats;  and  the  share  thus  to  be  taken  was  to  be 
delivered  to  him  in  New  York,  a  point  more  than 
a  hundred  miles,  on  the  average,  from  the  whal- 
ing grounds.  The  whalers  having  ignored  the 
decree,  "there  was  a  writ  directed  to  the  sheriff 
[1711]  to  seize  all  whale  fish  whatsoever"  in  order 
to  compel  the  whalers  to  bring  in  the  share  of  oil 
demanded. 

Up  to  this  time  Long  Island  whaling,  though 
it  had  been  carried  on  by  means  of  small  boats 
only,  had  been  fairly  profitable.  A  report  by 
Lord  Cornbury,  dated  July  I,  1708,  in  speaking 


io     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

of  this  matter,  says  that  "for  example  last  year 
they  made  4000  Barrils  of  Oyl."  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  season  preceding  this  very  profitable 
one,  only  six  hundred  barrels  had  been  secured. 
It  was  plain  to  all  the  fishermen  that  if  they  were 
to  be  taxed  one-twentieth  of  their  gross  product 
of  oil  every  year,  they  would  have  their  labor  for 
their  pains  during  a  large  part  of  the  time.  This 
fact  was,  naturally,  quite  enough  to  create  opposi- 
tion, but  a  loss  of  profits  was  not  the  only  feature 
of  the  situation  that  aroused  the  indignation  of 
the  whalers.  Fishing  was  among  the  rights  that 
had  been  granted  to  them  in  the  patent  to  their 
lands,  and  for  that  patent  they  paid  a  yearly  tax 
of  forty  shillings.  Under  the  rights  thus  granted 
them  they  had  been  accustomed,  from  the  making 
of  the  settlement,  a  period  of  more  than  seventy 
years,  "to  go  out  upon  the  Seas,  adjacent  to 
their  Lands,  Six  Men  in  a  Small  Boat,  to  take 
and  kill  Whales  and  other  fish,  and  the  Capters 
to  have  all  they  killed." 

That  a  governor,  sitting  at  ease  in  New  York, 
should  demand  a  share  of  their  hard-earned 
produce  from  the  high  seas,  after  all  those  years 


Samuel  Mulford,  Alongshore  Whaler       it 

of  freedom  from  such  a  tax,  was  bad  enough, 
particularly  as  the  levy  was  made  without  any 
pretence  of  a  return  to  them  for  what  was  thus 
to  be  taken;  but  fully  to  understand  their  indig- 
nation in  the  matter,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
they  had  been,  practically,  republicans,  making 
laws  for  themselves,  at  least  in  local  matters,  and 
paying  very  little  in  the  way  of  taxes  save  as  they 
made  levies  upon  themselves  for  the  benefit  of 
the  community. 

After  the  sheriff  came  among  them  with  his 
orders  to  "seize  all  whalefish  whatsoever,"  some 
few  of  the  whalemen  paid  the  tax.  Others,  more 
indignant,  ceased  fishing  for  whales.  Of  neither 
of  these  classes,  however,  was  Samuel  Mulford. 
With  his  two  sons,  Timothy  and  Matthew,  and 
enough  Indians  to  complete  the  crew  of  the  boat, 
he  went  to  sea  whenever  the  lookout  reported 
a  whale,  and  he  disposed  of  the  catch  according 
to  the  ancient  custom  under  which  the  "capters" 
had  "all  they  killed." 

In  the  days  before  Governor  Hunter  levied  on 
the  product  of  the  whale  fishery,  Samuel  Mulford 
had  served  his  neighbors  as  a  civil  justice  and  as 


12     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

a  lieutenant  of  militia.  He  was  now  chosen  to 
represent  the  community  in  the  General  Assem- 
bly. It  was  hoped  that  he  would  there  be  able 
effectually  to  oppose  the  governor's  schemes. 
Apparently  Governor  Hunter  feared  the  influence 
of  the  whaler  in  the  legislature,  for  he  promptly 
got  out  an  anchor  to  windward,  so  to  speak,  by 
creating  new  assembly  districts  in  territory  wherein 
he  was  able  to  control  the  elections,  and  he  was 
thus  able  to  secure  a  working  majority. 

Mulford  was  thus  balked  of  his  hopes  of  relief 
through  legislation,  but  he  took  the  legislator's 
privilege  and  freed  his  mind  by  a  speech  before 
the  assembly,  in  which  he  not  only  set  forth  the 
rights  of  the  whalers,  but  exposed  a  number  of 
the  other  grasping  schemes  of  the  governor  in 
merciless  fashion.  He  who  had  hauled  in  along- 
side a  whale  was  not  to  be  frightened  by  any 
kind  of  a  man,  however  great  in  power  and 
station. 

Of  course  the  governor  struck  back.  The 
obedient  assembly  expelled  the  bold  whaler. 
Then  a  creature  of  the  governor  who  held  the 
office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court, 


Samuel  Mulford,  Alongshore  Whaler       13 

assisted  by  the  prosecuting  attorney,  proceeded 
against  Mulford  for  the  "high  misdemeanor"  of 
uttering  "a  false  and  seditious  libel,"  and  that, 
too,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  under  the  law  the 
speech  was  privileged.  Still  further  to  harass 
the  whaler,  "an  action  of  trover"  was  com- 
menced against  him  and  his  sons  "for  converting 
the  Queen's  goods  to  their  own  use." 

As  the  action  for  libel  could  not  be  lawfully 
pressed,  the  charge  was  continued  from  term  to 
term  during  four  terms  of  the  court;  and  at  each 
term  the  old  man  was  brought  to  town,  a  dis- 
tance of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  miles.  He  was 
tried  on  the  charge  of  trover  by  the  Chief  Justice, 
although  he  appealed,  as  a  matter  of  right,  for  a 
jury  trial.  Of  course  he  was  convicted.  In  short, 
every  method  known  to  an  adroit  politician  in 
power  was  used  to  annoy  and  overpower  the  de- 
termined whaler,  who,  in  spite  of  losses  and  per- 
sonal persecutions,  continued  the  fight. 

A  remarkable  figure  is  Samuel  Mulford  as  he 
is  portrayed  in  the  records  of  his  day.  Governor 
Hunter  frequently  speaks  of  him  in  letters  sent 
to  England  as  a  "crazy  old  man."  Gardiner's 


14     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

East  Hampton  says  he  was  "an  original  genius  of 
good  judgment  but  of  an  odd  turn."  It  is  re- 
lated that  while  he  was  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature he  got  into  trouble  by  saying  that  the 
House  was  governed  by  the  devil.  When  brought 
to  the  bar  by  the  speaker,  he  explained  that  what 
he  had  intended  to  say  was  that  the  House  was 
ruled  by  the  Albany  members,  they  by  Colonel 
Schuyler,  he  by  the  Mohawk  Indians,  and  they 
by  the  devil;  whereat  everybody  laughed  so 
heartily  that  the  old  man  was  forgiven  for  his 
plain  speech.  That  he  should  have  made  such  a 
decided  stand  against  the  governor  was  evidence 
in  the  minds  of  average  citizens  that  he  was  what 
would  now  be  called  a  "crank."  But  if  his  mo- 
tives and  ambitions  be  now  examined,  it  is  seen 
that  he  was  not  only  the  ablest  citizen  of  Long 
Island,  but  a  far-seeing  statesman,  one  worthy  of 
being  ranked  with  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution. 
For  he  had  come  to  be  animated,  not  by  a  fool- 
ishly stubborn  determination  to  oppose  a  tyran- 
nical governor,  but  by  a  lofty  spirit  of  patriotism. 
The  fight  as  he  made  it  was  not  to  escape  the 
payment  of  a  fine  of  £50  that  had  been  im- 


Samuel  Mulford,  Alongshore  Whaler        15 

posed  upon  him,  but  to  establish  a  principle,  as 
shall  now  appear.  Parliament  had  provided 
special  encouragements  for  "subjects  within  this 
Kingdom, "  who  might  wish  "  to  go  a  Whale  Fish- 
ing to  Greenland,  Friezland  and  places  adjacent." 
In  Mulford's  view  "the  subjects  in  New  York" 
had  the  same  rights  under  that  act  as  any  English- 
man in  England.  If  that  were  so,  the  decree  of 
Hunter  for  taxing  the  fishery  was  contrary  to  the 
act  of  Parliament  for  encouraging  it,  and  this  was 
the  plea  which  Mulford's  attorney  made  when 
he  was  arraigned  on  the  charge  of  trover.  The 
subservient  Chief  Justice,  in  considering  this 
plea,  declared  that  the  colonists  "had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  acts  of  Parliament,"  and  that  they 
"had  no  law  but  what  the  Crown  allowed"  them. 
On  hearing  this  decision  Samuel  Mulford  de- 
termined to  learn  "whether  the  Subjects  in  New 
York  Colony  are  to  be  governed  by  Prerogative 
and  deprived  of  property,  or  whether  they  are 
to  be  governed  by  the  Constitution  of  English 
Government."  That  is  to  say,  Mulford  made  his 
fight  to  determine  the  rights  of  the  colonists  as 
British  citizens,  and  not  merely  to  escape  a  petty 
fine  that  he  was  well  able  to  pay. 


16     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Finding  the  power  of  the  governor  too  great  for 
him  in  the  colony  (Hunter  called  him  a  traitor  for 
standing  out  against  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court),  Mulford  left  home  secretly,  crossed  over 
to  Newport,  walked  thence  to  Boston,  and  sailed 
for  London  to  lay  his  case  before  the  Crown. 

Rarely  has  a  man  seen  a  greater  change  in  his 
surroundings  than  Mulford  saw  when  he  went 
from  the  stern  sheets  of  a  Long  Island  whale 
boat  to  the  crowded  antechambers  of  those  who 
waited  upon  royalty  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Dress,  manner  of  speech, 
and  every  motion  proclaimed  him  a  wayfarer 
from  a  far  country.  The  pickpockets  of  the 
streets  "annoyed"  him  much.  The  gentlemen  of 
the  court  found  him  vastly  amusing  at  first,  and 
latterly,  as  he  persisted,  perhaps  something  of  a 
nuisance.  But  the  resourcefulness  and  the  deter- 
mination of  the  whaler  were  in  him.  He  sewed 
fish-hooks  inside  of  his  pockets,  and  so  caught  the 
light-fingered  thieves;  and  by  other  hooks  equally 
effective  he  drew  those  in  authority  around  him 
until  the  Lords  Justices  wrote  to  Governor  Hunter, 
saying  plainly,  "We  must  observe  to  you  that  we 


Samuel  Mulford,   Alongshore  Whaler        17 

hope  you  will  give  all  due  encouragement"  to  the 
whalers. 

Before  Washington  was  born,  Samuel  Mulford, 
the  alongshore  whaler  of  Southampton,  set  the 
pace  to  which  the  patriot  hosts  at  Lexington 
were  to  march.  Decision  on  the  main  point  for 
which  Mulford  contended  was  avoided.  That 
was  left  for  later  arbitrament.  But  Hunter  was 
compelled  to  reply,  "I  have  remitted  the  five  per- 
cent on  Whale  Fishing."  By  means  of  the  mental 
qualities  that  he  had  cultivated  when  "out  upon 
the  seas"  with  "six  men  in  a  Small  Boat  to  take 
and  kill  Whales,"  Mulford  triumphed  over  one 
of  the  ablest  of  the  royal  governors  of  New  York. 

This  account  of  Samuel  Mulford  has  little  of 
whaling  in  it,  but  it  seems  well  worth  telling  here, 
first  of  all,  because  one  of  the  most  important 
features  of  the  American  whale  fishery  is  found 
in  its  influence  upon  the  men  who  were  engaged 
in  it,  and,  through  them,  upon  the  whole  people. 


II 

TOLD  OF  THE  RED  INDIAN  WHALERS 

IN  the  early  days  of  Nantucket,  while  yet  the 
people  were  engaged  in  alongshore  whaling 
by  means  of  small  boats  only,  it  happened 
one    day  while    thirty   boats   were    in    search   of 
whales  at  a  distance  of  something  like  six  miles 
offshore  that  the  wind  suddenly  whipped  around 
to  the  north  and   began  to  blow  with  great  vio- 
lence.    At  the  same  time  snow  began  to  fall. 

In  the  circumstances  there  was  only  one  thing 
for  the  whalers  to  do,  and  that  was  to  head  for 
land  and  pull  with  all  their  might.  This  was 
done,  though  without  much  thought  of  danger  at 
first.  Boats  were  often  caught  thus  by  an  off- 
shore wind,  but  as  time  passed  it  became  apparent 
to  all  hands  that  they  were  making  little  headway 
against  the  gale,  and  then  one  after  another  of 
the  oarsmen  became  weary,  and  finally  dis- 
couraged. Through  the  weakness  of  these  men 

18 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers  19 

the  headway  that  had  been  made  theretofore  was 
soon  lost,  and  a  time  came  when  the  whole  flotilla 
was  at  the  point  of  drifting  away  to  sea. 

But  at  that  moment,  when  thirty  boat  loads  of 
men  were  held  in  a  balance  that  was  wavering  to 
and  fro  between  life  and  death,  one  of  the  Indians 
employed  shouted  in  a  loud  voice: 

"Pull  ahead  with  courage;  do  not  be  dis- 
heartened ;  there  are  too  many  Englishmen  to  be 
lost  now  I " 

It  was  a  voice  like  that  of  old  Cornstalk,  as  he 
raged  to  and  fro  at  the  battle  of  Point  Pleasant, 
shouting  to  his  men:  " Be  strong  !  Be  strong!" 
It  was  even  more  than  that,  for  the  words  were  a 
keen  taunt  to  the  white  men  who  had  shown  dis- 
couragement. And  when  those  words  were  heard, 
the  weak,  as  well  as  the  strong,  bent  to  their  oars 
once  more,  and  with  an  increase  of  energy  that 
carried  the  flotilla  to  safety. 

The  historians  who  have  from  time  to  time 
considered  the  whale  fishery  have  all  been  much 
interested  in  a  discussion  concerning  the  first 
whalers  known  to  the  record.  It  is  pretty  well 
agreed  among  them  that  the  peculiar  people 


20     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

found  in  certain  places  along  the  north  coast  of 
Spain,  and  called  Basques,  were  the  first  to  make 
whaling  a  regular  business.  The  ancient  docu- 
ments to  be  seen  there  show,  at  any  rate,  that 
in  1150  King  Sancho  the  Wise  granted  special 
privileges  in  the  matter  of  whaling  to  the  city  of 
San  Sebastian;  and  there  is  no  record  about 
whaling  to  be  found  elsewhere  among  civilized 
people  of  earlier  date.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred 
from  this  fact,  however,  that  the  Basques  were 
the  inventors  of  the  arts  of  whaling.  The  abo- 
rigines of  Europe  in  the  stone  age  were  certainly 
as  courageous  and  venturesome  as  those  of 
America,  and  the  first  white  men  to  explore  the 
coast  of  New  England  found  red  whalers  at  work. 
In  every  clan  and  tribe  along  the  coast  were  men 
accustomed  to  killing  whales. 

Most  interesting  to  the  humanitarian  is  every 
record  of  things  done  by  the  red  men  of  America 
in  the  days  when  they  were  undefiled  by  contact 
with  the  white  race.  And  of  the  stories  of  the 
things  done,  few  if  any  portray  red  manhood  in 
brighter  colors  than  those  relating  to  the  whale 
fishery. 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          21 

One  can  appreciate  the  work  of  the  red  whalers, 
however,  only  after  a  consideration  of  some  de- 
tails of  his  weapons.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  the 
Indians  had  stone-headed  arrows  and  stone- 
headed  spears.  The  arrow-heads  were  about  two 
inches  long;  the  spear-heads  four  or  five.  Some 
were  made  longer  than  the  dimensions  here  given, 
but  the  average  weapon  of  each  kind  was  no 
larger.  These  weapons  were  used  on  land  for 
killing  deer  and  other  animals  found  in  the 
forest.  For  the  land  animals  they  were  efficient 
enough.  Deer,  moose,  elk,  and  bears  were  all 
killed  with  such  weapons  easily,  though  always 
at  such  short  range  that  the  Indian  was  almost 
within  touch  of  his  prey.  The  white  man,  with 
his  repeating  rifle  that  fires  a  bullet  through  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  of  iron  plate,  may  well  won- 
der at  the  ability  of  the  Indian  to  strike  down  the 
moose  with  stone-headed  arrows. 

To  secure  the  whale,  the  Indian  had  to  go 
afloat  upon  the  sea,  and  it  was  during  the  winter 
season  that  whales  were  found  in  greatest  num- 
bers along  the  Atlantic  coast.  In  modern  days 
we  praise  the  courage  of  our  life  savers  who  go 


22     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

off  to  stranded  ships  in  twenty-eight-foot  surf 
boats,  built  with  all  the  strength  that  modern 
skill  and  the  best  of  tools  can  give  them;  and 
provided,  moreover,  with  air-tight  tanks  at  each 
end  that  will  keep  them  afloat  even  when  a  hole 
in  the  bottom  lets  the  water  in.  The  life  savers 
deserve  all  the  credit  they  get,  and  more  too;  but 
the  Indian,  let  it  be  remembered,  went  afloat  on 
the  ocean  in  a  canoe,  the  frame  of  which  was 
tied  together  with  sinew,  the  planking  composed 
of  the  bark  of  a  tree,  and  the  cracks  calked  with 
the  fat  of  animals  mixed  with  spruce  gum. 

Two  kinds  of  whales  were  commonly  hunted 
by  the  Indians.  One  was  the  black  fish  that 
came  in  large  schools  to  such  sheltered  waters  as 
were  to  be  found  under  the  point  of  Cape  Cod 
and  elsewhere  along  shore.  To  kill  these  was  not 
a  difficult  matter.  The  other  kind  was  the  right 
whale.  In  two  respects,  at  least,  the  right  whales 
were  of  a  character  to  try  the  nerves  of  white 
men  as  well  as  of  red.  Thus,  as  they  swam  to 
and  fro,  with  their  lips  up,  sucking  in  the  food 
that  floated  upon  the  surface  of  the  sea,  the 
spectacle  was  so  horrifying  that  the  officers  in  the 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          23 

whale  fishery  of  the  white  men  were  careful  never 
to  allow  a  "greenhorn"  to  look  at  it  lest  he  be 
frightened  out  of  his  senses,  and  even  men  of 
experience  sometimes  felt  their  nerves  quiver  as 
they  gazed  upon  one  of  these  whales  that  was 
approaching  the  boat.  To  the  superstitious  Ind- 
ians, therefore,  the  right  whale  must  have 
seemed  to  be  the  embodiment  of  the  most  frightful 
spirit  of  evil.  Nor  was  it  the  appearance  of  the 
beast  alone  that  impressed  them  thus,  for  this 
whale,  when  angered,  was  a  monster  of  devilish 
power  and  instincts.  To  enormous  strength  it 
added  astonishing  agility.  Raising  its  wide- 
spread flukes  in  air,  it  would  sweep  them  from 
jaw  to  jaw,  searching,  sometimes  swiftly  and 
sometimes  with  a  gentle  touch,  here  and  there 
for  traces  of  its  enemies.  Everything  within  the 
sweep,  whether  boat  or  man  or  splinter,  was  in- 
stantly detected  and  crushed  under  a  blow  from 
that  tail. 

And  yet  the  Indians,  with  their  frail  canoes  and 
their  stone-headed  spears,  swarmed  out  to  sea  in 
pursuit  of  right  whales  whenever  they  saw  the 
spouts,  unless,  indeed,  the  surf  was  impassable. 


24     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Puny  were  the  implements  of  the  red  whalers, 
but  what  they  lacked  in  implements  they  made 
up  with  courage,  ingenuity,  and  perseverance. 

In  John  R.  Jewett's  Narrative  of  his  adven- 
tures among  the  Indians  of  the  Northwest  coast, 
it  is  said  that  the  Indians  used  harpoons  made  of 
wood  shafts  with  pieces  of  shell  for  points.  It  is 
remarkable  that  these  Indians,  who  made  enor- 
mous and  seaworthy  canoes  from  the  trunks  of 
huge  trees,  should  have  used  such  frail  weapons 
as  the  shell-pointed  spears  were ;  for  they  met,  now 
and  then,  the  Eskimos  living  farther  north,  who 
had  harpoons  and  spears  of  superior  construction. 
Jewett  won  the  regard  of  his  Indian  masters  by 
making  whaling  implements  of  iron;  but  he  says 
in  his  Narrative  that  his  work  only  made  them 
the  more  determined  to  keep  him  from  returning 
to  civilized  parts  of  the  world. 

The  weapons  made  by  the  Eskimo  whalers 
were  the  best  of  any  ever  found  among  the  abo- 
rigines of  America.  The  ingenuity  displayed  by 
them  in  making  what  is  known  among  white 
whalers  as  the  "toggle"  harpoon  was  remark- 
able. Taking  a  walrus  tooth  the  Eskimo  mechanic 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers  25 

carefully  scraped  one  end  to  a  point,  and  then, 
after  cutting  a  slit  in  the  point,  he  inserted  a 
triangle  of  chipped  flint  or  of  some  other  kind  of 
stone  ground  to  a  point  and  a  cutting  edge.  Just 
why  a  stone  point  was  added  to  the  ivory  point 
has  never  been  explained.  Then  midway  of  its 
length  he  bored  a  hole  crosswise  through  the 
tooth,  and  through  this  hole  he  secured  what 
the  white  men  called  the  warp  or  harpoon  line. 
Above  this  hole  another  one  was  drilled  length- 
wise of  the  tooth,  and  this  was  shaped  so  that  it 
served  as  a  socket  for  the  insertion  of  the  handle 
of  the  harpoon.  The  part  of  the  tooth  above 
this  hole  was  then  carved  into  the  shape  of  a 
barb,  and  some  of  the  more  artistic  harpoon 
makers  shaped  the  barb  so  that  it  looked  like  the 
upturned  tail  of  a  fish.  To  complete  the  weapon 
an  inflated  sealskin  float  was  attached  to  the 
loose  end  of  the  harpoon  line. 

When  the  Eskimo  hunter  arrived  alongside  a 
whale,  he  jabbed  his  harpoon  into  the  animal 
until  the  walrus-tooth  head  was  buried  out  of 
sight  in  the  blubber.  Then  he  jerked  away  the 
harpoon  handle,  leaving  the  head  of  the  harpoon 


26     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

in  the  whale,  and  threw  overboard  the  sealskin 
float.  The  whale,  in  plunging  under  water, 
brought  a  strain  on  the  harpoon  line,  of  course, 
because  of  the  resistance  offered  by  the  float:  but 
this  strain,  instead  of  drawing  the  harpoon  head 
out  of  the  whale,  turned  it  around  in  the  blubber 
so  that  the  only  way  of  getting  it  out  thereafter 
was  to  cut  it  out. 

This  "toggle"  harpoon  was  in  use  above 
Bering's  Strait  and  on  the  coast  of  Greenland  for 
no  one  knows  how  many  years  before  a  bright 
Negro  blacksmith  at  New  Bedford  invented  the 
same  style  of  weapon  for  the  use  of  white  whalers. 

As  for  the  Eskimo  lance,  it  consisted  of  a  long 
shaft  with  a  chipped-flint  head  as  broad  as  a 
man's  hand  —  a  genuine  paleolith  sort  of  spear, 
such  as  the  ablest  of  the  cave  dwellers  would 
have  thought  perfection.  It  seems  to  the  white 
whaler  now  like  a  crude  weapon,  something 
"heathenish  for  fair,"  as  the  writer  once  heard 
an  old  whaler  say;  but  while  the  modern  Eskimo 
has  the  lighter  and  sharper  lance  of  the  white 
man,  together  with  the  terrible  bomb-lance  gun, 
he  yet  carries  one  of  those  ancient  stone-headed 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          27 

weapons.  With  the  skill  and  strength  of  his 
ancestors  he  drives  it  home  as  soon  as  possible 
after  he  has  struck  his  whale  with  the  harpoon, 
and  it  is  only  when  this  has  been  done  that  he 
turns  to  use  the  steel  lance  and  the  bomb  gun 
which  he  buys  of  the  white  man. 

The  float  was  the  distinctive  feature  of  the 
Indian  whaler  implements.  White  and  red 
whalers  alike  used  barbed  spears  for  harpoons, 
but  it  was  the  red  man  who  always  used  the  float 
in  connection  with  the  harpoon.  On  the  Atlantic 
coast  the  Indians  made  their  floats  of  logs  of 
light  wood  which  were  of  as  large  a  size  as  possi- 
ble without  bringing  a  strain  upon  the  harpoon 
line  that  would  pull  the  head  from  the  wound 
or  break  the  line.  The  line  was  only  a  few  feet 
long.  To  have  made  it  longer  would  have  allowed 
the  float  to  come  within  reach  of  the  flexible  tail 
of  the  animal.  The  Indians  depended  upon 
these  floats  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  whale 
as  it  strove  to  escape  from  them.  A  single  float, 
whether  it  were  an  inflated  sealskin  or  a  log  of 
wood  four  feet  long,  did  not  materially  lessen  the 
speed  of  a  fleeing  whale;  but  when  the  Indians 


28     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

went  hunting  these  animals  they  gathered  around 
their  victim  in  numbers,  and  thrust  in  so  many 
of  their  harpoons  that  only  the  stronger  of  the 
whales  were  able  to  escape  from  them.  Many 
an  Indian  canoe  was  smashed  by  the  fighting 
whales,  and  many  an  Indian  thus  lost  his  life; 
but  with  the  red  as  with  the  white  whalers  the 
dangers  did  but  add  to  the  joys  of  the  chase. 

The  white  settlers  on  the  Atlantic  coast  promptly 
made  friends  with  the  red  whalers.  This  is  not 
to  say  that  the  white  whalers  always  gave  the 
Indians  fair  treatment;  but,  as  already  noted,  the 
red  men  were  employed,  not  exterminated  with 
swords  and  guns,  nor  even  driven  away.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  the  first  whale  boat  that  was  set 
afloat  by  the  white  settlers  was  manned  in  part 
by  Indians,  and  in  all  times  until  the  present 
day  red  men  and  white  have  been  found  pulling 
together  to  the  tune  of  "  a  dead  whale  or  a  stove 
boat."  The  records  say  that  they  have  always 
been  good  oarsmen  and  the  very  best  of  harpoon 
throwers.  More  than  one  American  whale  ship 
has  had  red  men  for  mates,  but  no  record  of  one 
serving  as  a  captain  is  known  to  the  writer. 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          29 

While  the  Eskimos  have  always  been  on  friendly 
terms  with  the  white  whalers  (too  friendly  for 
their  own  good),  they  have  never  been  employed 
to  any  considerable  extent  in  the  crews  of  the 
Arctic  whale  ships.  Their  principal  connection 
with  these  whalers  has  been  in  the  exchanging  of 
whalebone  for  the  weapons  used  by  white  men, 
and  for  other  less  useful  products  of  civilized 
countries. 

The  work  of  the  modern  Eskimo  whaler,  as 
described  by  John  Murdock,  a  scientist  in  gov- 
ernment employ  who  spent  a  winter  at  Point 
Barrow  to  study  their  habits,  is  extremely  inter- 
esting. The  whales  in  working  their  way  to  the 
breeding  grounds  at  the  north  of  the  continent 
pass  Point  Barrow  in  the  months  of  May  and 
June.  Accordingly,  the  Eskimos  begin  their  prep- 
arations for  whaling  in  April.  First  of  all  the 
umiaks  (whale  boats),  which  are  stored  away 
during  the  winter,  are  brought  out.  The  frames 
are  carefully  cleaned,  the  lashings  are  all  renewed, 
and  the  skins  that  cover  the  frames  are  soaked, 
repaired,  and  stretched  into  place.  The  weapons 
of  all  kinds  are  also  carefully  cleaned.  This 


30     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

work  is  not  done  because  the  Eskimo  dislikes 
dirt  to  any  extent,  but  because  his  religion  or  his 
ideas  about  luck  make  him  think  the  things 
should  be  cleaned.  In  this  particular  respect 
the  Eskimo  differs,  by  the  way,  from  the  white 
whalers,  many  of  whom  think  that  cleaning  away 
the  dirt  that  accumulates  on  the  masts  of  a  ship 
while  cutting  in  blubber  would  surely  bring  bad 
luck. 

When  the  owners  of  the  umiaks  have  their 
cleaning  done,  they  hire  their  crews.  For  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  the  modern  Eskimo  is  a  capitalist 
—  an  employer  of  labor.  Some  of  them  own 
property  of  considerable  value  by  the  white  man's 
standard.  That  is  to  say,  some  of  them  own 
harpoons,  lances,  and  bomb  guns  to  the  value  of 
several  hundred  dollars,  as  well  as  boats.  In 
hiring  his  crew  the  boat  owner  sometimes  pays 
stated  wages  in  tobacco,  knives,  guns,  cartridges, 
etc.,  which  he  obtains  by  selling  bone  to  white 
traders.  Usually,  however,  he  follows  the  white 
custom  and  gives  each  man  a  "lay"  or  share  of 
the  whalebone  taken,  the  bone  being  the  mer- 
chantable portion  of  the  whale. 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          31 

Having  selected  his  crew,  the  Eskimo  owner 
looks  after  the  charms  and  amulets  which  he  and 
his  men  are  to  carry  afloat  to  insure  success. 
The  skin  of  a  raven,  the  skull  of  a  wolf,  and  the 
incisor  teeth  of  a  mountain  sheep  are  all  valued 
for  the  luck  they  are  supposed  to  bring  to  whalers. 
So,  too,  is  a  stone  image  of  a  whale;  but  nothing 
else  is  prized  quite  as  highly  for  this  purpose  as  a 
bunch  of  feathers  from  a  golden  eagle,  or  a  few 
hairs  from  the  tip  end  of  the  tail  of  a  red  fox. 

When  open  water  is  seen  offshore,  the  umiak 
is  loaded  on  one  sled  and  the  gear  upon  another. 
Dogs  drag  the  sleds  across  the  ice  to  the  water, 
and  the  women  go  along  to  guide  it  and  push. 
Having  launched  their  boats  the  crews  go  cruis- 
ing, and  as  it  is  by  that  time  perpetual  day,  they 
remain  afloat  as  long  as  they  can  endure  the 
work,  eating  and  sleeping  as  they  can.  The 
women  bring  food  to  the  edge  of  the  open  water 
from  time  to  time. 

The  attack  upon  the  whale  is  made  by  a  rush 
of  all  the  boats,  as  was  that  of  the  Indians  of 
Long  Island,  though  the  Eskimo  must  now  be 
much  more  cautious  than  in  other  days,  because 


32     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

whales  have  learned  to  fear  the  whaler.  The 
modern  Eskimo  is,  if  possible,  more  reckless  than 
any  red  whaler  of  former  years.  Because  of  the 
ever  present  ice  under  which  the  whale  usually 
tries  to  escape,  he  must  strike  while  he  may,  and 
to  see  an  Eskimo  taking  chances  in  order  to  get  a 
thrust  with  his  lance  or  a  shot  with  his  bomb 
gun  is  the  experience  of  a  lifetime;  for  the  Eskimo 
whaler  is  always  so  anxious  lest  his  prey  escape 
that  he  never  gives  any  thought  to  the  dangers 
he  may  be  risking. 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  red  whalers  to  divide 
the  meat  and  blubber  which  they  took  among 
their  neighbors  —  among  the  whole  community, 
that  is.  This  custom  still  prevails  among  the 
Eskimo.  They  are  so  far  socialists.  The  bone 
was  also  common  property  in  former  days,  but  now 
it  is  divided  .as  prize  money  is  divided  among 
the  crews  of  war-ships,  all  boats  within  reach  at 
the  killing,  and  no  others,  share  the  bone.  Bone 
is  held  as  private  property  now  because  the  white 
trader  will  buy  it.  With  bone  held  as  private 
property  the  Eskimo  whaler  of  unusual  ability 
now  has  what  a  white  man  would  call  a  tangible 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          33 

profit  from  his  work  in  proportion  to  his  skill. 
Yet  it  appears  that  the  able  Eskimo  of  other 
days  was  not  without  a  somewhat  satisfactory 
reward;  for  while  bone  as  well  as  meat  was  shared 
among  all,  he  was  distinguished  as  the  leader  of 
his  community.  The  white  whalers  say  that  the 
Eskimo  has  made  progress  in  civilization  through 
acquiring  civilized  ideas  about  personal  property. 
The  fact  is,  however,  that  his  habit  of  thought 
has  been  changed  only  in  the  increase  of  selfish- 
ness, and  as  for  the  reward  for  his  superior  skill, 
it  appears  that,  if  he  should  come  to  own  a  dozen 
bomb  guns  instead  of  one  or  two,  and  many 
boats  loaded  with  other  gear,  he  could  never  be, 
at  best,  more  than  the  leader  and  benefactor  of 
his  community,  while  at  the  worst  he  might  en- 
slave all  his  neighbors. 

Since  the  whale  has  been  in  all  times  a  principal 
source  of  food  and  other  supplies,  the  red  novel- 
ists —  the  myth  makers  —  have  naturally  directed 
much  attention  to  it.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  traders 
who  have  bought  the  bone  of  the  red  whalers 
have  always  considered  the  red  man's  literature, 
if  that  word  may  be  allowed,  as  the  mere  gibberish 


34     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

of  idolaters.  If  we  could  have  had  a  Ruskin  to 
place  their  myths  before  us,  we  should  have  found 
in  them  something  more  than  idle  talk;  for,  how- 
ever told,  the  stories  of  the  red  men  give  us  an 
insight  into  the  life  of  the  igloo  and  the  tepee  not 
to  be  obtained  in  any  other  way. 

As  a  final  view  of  the  Eskimo  whalers,  consider 
their  "Myth  of  the  Raven,  the  Whale,  and  the 
Mink,"  as  gathered  by  Nelson  near  Bering's 
Strait  and  printed  in  the  Eighteenth  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology: 

Seeing  a  Whale  near  the  shore  the  Raven  shouted : 
"When  you  come  up  again  shut  your  eyes  and  open 
wide  your  mouth."  The  Whale  did  as  he  was  ordered, 
and  the  Raven,  "carrying  his  fire  drill  under  his  wings," 
flew  "straight  down  the  Whale's  throat."  As  the  whale 
plunged  under  water  once  more  the  Raven  found  itself 
"at  the  entrance  of  a  fine  room,  at  one  end  of  which 
burned  a  lamp,"  and  he  "was  surprised  to  see  a  very 
beautiful  young  woman  sitting  there,"  the  young  woman 
being  "the  shade  or  inua  of  the  whale  which  was  a 
female." 

The  young  woman  made  the  Raven  welcome  and 
went  about  preparing  him  a  meal  of  berries  and  oil. 
Every  time  she  went  out  of  the  room  while  thus  engaged, 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          35 

she  called  his  attention  to  a  tube  leading  along  the  top 
of  the  room  from  the  end  of  which  oil  was  dripping 
into  the  burning  lamp.  That  tube,  she  said,  he  must 
not  touch.  In  spite  of  the  repeated  warnings,  however, 
his  curiosity  led  the  Raven  to  catch  a  drop  of  the  drip- 
ping oil  on  one  claw  and  lick  it  off  with  his  tongue. 
The  taste  was  so  sweet  that  he  caught  more  of  it,  until 
finally  that  method  of  collecting  the  oil  "became  too 
slow  for  him,  so  he  reached  up  and  tore  a  piece  from 
the  side  of  the  tube  and  ate  it."  Instantly  "a  great 
rush  of  oil  poured  into  the  room  extinguishing  the  light. 
.  .  .  The  inua  never  came  back  to  the  room  and  the 
whale  drifted  ashore." 

The  Eskimos  of  a  near-by  village  found  the  dead 
whale,  and  in  cutting  it  up  released  the  Raven.  Leav- 
ing his  fire  drill  behind  him,  the  Raven  flew  away  un- 
observed and  alighted  upon  a  hill  from  which  he  watched 
the  people  at  their  work.  After  a  time  he  changed  him- 
self into  the  semblance  of  a  man,  and  joined  them  in 
cutting  up  the  whale  until  he  found  his  fire  drill.  With 
that  in  hand  he  began  rolling  down  his  sleeves,  saying, 
"  This  is  too  bad,  for  my  daughter  has  told  me  that  if  a 
fire  drill  is  found  in  a  whale  and  people  try  to  cut  up 
that  whale,  many  of  them  will  die.  I  shall  run  away." 
"And  away  he  ran,"  adds  the  tale. 

Being  frightened,  the  people  ran  away  as  he  had 
done,  whereat  the  Raven  laughed  heartily,  and  return- 


36     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

ing  to  the  whale  began  to  cut  it  up  for  his  sole  use. 
Later,  upon  observing  that  he  had  nothing  in  which  he 
could  store  the  oil,  he  called  on  the  Mink  for  help.  The 
Mink  invited  the  "sea  people,"  the  seals,  to  a  feast  in 
a  house  that  he  and  the  Raven  built.  When  the  sea 
people  came,  and  had  filled  the  house,  the  Raven  said 
to  them : 

"What  a  number  of  people!  How  shall  I  be  able 
to  make  a  feast  for  all  of  you?  But  never  mind;  let 
me  first  rub  the  eyes  of  some  of  you  with  this  stuflF  in 
order  that  you  may  be  able  to  see  better;  it  is  dark  in 
here." 

"This  stuff  "  was  a  ball  of  gum  that  closed  the  eyes 
of  the  seals,  effectually  blinding  them,  whereupon  the 
Raven  killed  all  but  one,  that,  through  an  oversight, 
escaped  to  the  sea. 

"When  he  had  finished  Raven  turned  to  Mink  and 
said,  'See  what  a  lot  of  seals  I  have  killed.  We  will 
have  plenty  of  oil  bags  now.'  Then  they  made  bags  of 
the  sealskins  and  filled  them  with  oil  for  the  winter. 
Ever  since  that  time  Raven  and  Mink  have  been  friends, 
and  even  to  this  day  ravens  will  not  eat  the  flesh  of  a 
mink,  be  they  ever  so  hungry;  and  the  raven  and  the 
mink  are  often  found  very  close  together  on  the  tundras." 

These  sauvage  whalers  were  a  rude  people,  but 
they  could  look  into  a  whale  and  see  its  inua  in 


Told  of  the  Red  Indian  Whalers          37 

the  form  of  a  beautiful  young  woman  sitting 
beside  a  lamp  that  burned  as  long  as  the  whale 
lived.  They  saw  the  cunning  of  the  raven,  the 
simplicity  of  the  seal,  and  they  laughed  heartily 
at  the  thought  of  a  raven  taking  a  whale  from 
them  by  guile.  They  could  while  away  the  long 
hours  of  a  winter's  storm  by  elaborating  a  story 
to  explain  a  strange  companionship  that  they  had 
observed  among  the  tundras. 

Not  less  interesting  were  the  mental  charac- 
teristics of  the  whalers  found  on  the  other  coasts 
of  America.  If  we  could  but  see  their  courage 
and  fortitude,  and  their  humor  and  poetry,  they 
might  seem  now  to  be  something  different  from 
the  vile  and  degraded  heathen  they  were  sup- 
posed to  be  when  the  white  men  first  came  among 
them. 


Ill 

EARLY  DAYS  ON  NANTUCKET 

ACCORDING  to  a  story  told  by  the  myth 
makers  among  the  red  whalers,  a 
mighty  giant  who,  once  upon  a  time, 
lived  on  the  Atlantic  coast  was  in  the  habit  of 
using  Cape  Cod  as  a  sleeping  place  —  partly  be- 
cause the  warm  and  yielding  sands  were  com- 
forting, and  partly  because  the  shape  of  it  fitted 
him  well  when  he  curled  down  to  rest.  One  night, 
however,  he  was  so  restless  that  he  kicked  his  feet 
around  the  whole  night  long.  Naturally  the  cape 
sand  was  scooped  out  and  bulged  up,  here  and 
there,  forming  hollows  and  dunes  to  be  seen  to 
this  day,  and  what  is  of  more  interest  here,  the 
giant  got  his  moccasins  well  filled  with  sand. 
When  awakened  the  next  morning  he  found  the 
sand  in  the  moccasins  particularly  annoying  be- 
cause of  the  ill  humor  following  such  a  night, 
and  taking  off  first  one  moccasin  and  then  the 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  39 

other,  he  flung  their  contents  away  across  the 
sea,  and  thus  made  Martha's  Vineyard  and  Nan- 
tucket  and  the  shoals  beyond. 

Whether  this  myth  is  regarded  as  the  absurd 
emanation  of  an  idolatrous  brain,  or  the  vision  of 
a  poet  who  saw  dimly  the  workings  of  the  giant 
forces  of  nature,  it  gives  the  account  of  the  origin 
of  Nantucket  as  it  was  told  to  the  first  white  men 
who  settled  on  the  island. 

Of  the  settlers  themselves  we  have  a  more 
detailed  record.  One  Thomas  Macy,  living  in 
Salisbury,  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  gave 
shelter  and  food  to  three  or  four  Quakers  who 
were  fleeing  through  a  storm  from  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  Puritans.  In  due  time  the  officers  of 
the  colony  came  and  demanded  the  Quakers;  but 
Macy,  who  had  been  in  the  army  under  Oliver 
Cromwell,  refused  to  give  them  up,  until  the 
Quakers  saw  that  their  host  in  defending  them 
was  preparing  serious  trouble  for  himself  and  in- 
sisted on  surrendering  themselves.  Thereupon  the 
officers  took  them  away  and  hanged  one  of  them. 
Then,  being  as  yet  unsatisfied,  they  returned  to 
persecute  Macy,  and  in  this  they  persisted  until 


40     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

he  was  obliged  to  fly.  Embarking  his  family  in 
an  open  boat,  with  a  friend  named  Edward  Star- 
buck,  Macy  sailed  across  Massachusetts  Bay, 
rounded  Cape  Cod,  and,  braving  the  perils  of  the 
open  sea,  crossed  to  Nantucket  Island.  There, 
"as  the  Indians  were  not  sufficiently  enlightened 
to  abhor  his  crime,  the  dispenser  of  unlawful 
hospitality  was  kindly  received  and  permitted  to 
live  in  peace." 

The  first  white  explorer  to  see  Nantucket  was 
Bartholomew  Gosnold,  who  went  cruising  among 
the  islands  south  of  Cape  Cod  in  1602.  The 
title  which  his  discovery  gave  to  the  British  was 
found  in  the  hands  of  the  Earl  of  Stirling  in  1641. 
The  earl's  American  agent  sold  the  island  on 
October  13  of  that  year  to  Thomas  Mayhew,  a 
merchant  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  for  £40. 
Mayhew  still  owned  the  island  when,  in  1658  or 
^1659,  Thomas  Macy  fled  from  Salisbury;  but  no 
one  had  been  able,  up  to  that  time,  to  secure  a 
foothold  among  the  red  inhabitants  —  a  fact  that 
gives  interest  to  the  story  of  Macy's  choice  of  a 
location  and  his  success  in  obtaining  a  welcome. 

Finding   the   island   very   much   to   his   liking, 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  41 

Macy  remembered  some  of  his  friends  in  his 
former  home  —  men  who  were  lawless  enough  to 
give  shelter  to  Quakers  adrift  in  a  storm  —  and 
sent  Starbuck  back  to  tell  them  what  was  to  be 
found  on  Nantucket.  This  mission  was  so  well 
executed  that  several  families  agreed  to  emigrate. 
The  whole  company  thus  formed  united  to  pur- 
chase the  island  from  Mayhew,  who,  after  reserv- 
ing one-tenth  of  it  for  himself,  sold  the  remainder 
to  Tristam  Coffin,  Thomas  Macy,  Christopher 
Hussey,  Richard  Swayne,  Thomas  Barnard,  Peter 
Coffin,  Stephen  Greenleaf,  John  Swayne,  and 
William  Pike.  Mayhew  and  the  nine  men  here 
mentioned  are  known  in  Nantucket  annals  as 
"The  Ten  First  Purchasers."  Each  of  the  ten 
afterward  took  a  partner  on  equal  terms  and 
thus  the  "Twenty  Purchasers"  were  organized. 
To  omit  mentioning  the  "Ten  First  Purchasers" 
and  the  "Twenty  Purchasers"  in  any  account  of 
Nantucket  would  be,  in  the  eyes  of  Nantucket 
people,  like  a  history  of  the  United  States  with 
no  mention  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

On    emigrating    to    Nantucket,    the    "Twenty 
Purchasers"    bought    "the    right   of  the    Indian 


42     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Sachims  the  tenth  of  May,  1660."  As  the  record 
very  clearly  shows,  not  one  of  the  Nantucket 
settlers  was  a  whaler.  All  were  frontier  home 
makers — such  men  as  those  who  crossed  the 
Alleghanies  a  hundred  years  later  to  create  the 
civilization  that  now  distinguishes  the  Ohio  Valley. 
Neither  were  they  sailors,  for  the  records  show 
that  they  offered  special  inducements  to  one 
"William  North,  Salier,"  to  come  to  the  island 
and  there  "imploy  himself  or  Bee  Imployed  on 
the  sea  .  .  .  and  not  to  leave  the  island  for  three 
yeares  time." 

These  settlers  must  have  seen  the  red  whalers 
at  work,  but  it  had  no  particular  influence  upon 
them,  for  it  was  not  until  a  whale  placed  itself  in 
a  natural  trap  within  their  reach  that  they  made 
any  effort  to  go  whaling.  According  to  the 
tradition  a  "scragg"  whale  (a  right  whale  having 
a  number  of  small  humps  on  its  back)  came  into 
the  harbor  and  remained  there  three  days.  Its 
prolonged  stay  "excited  the  curiosity  of  the 
people,"  according  to  Macy,  the  island's  chief 
historian,  "  and  led  them  to  devise  measures  to 
prevent  its  return"  to  the  open  sea.  "They 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  43 

accordingly  invented  and  caused  to  be  wrought 
for  them  a  harpoon  with  which  they  attacked 
and  killed  the  whale." 

But  if  the  settlers  of  Nantucket  were  not  whale- 
men, nor  even  sailors,  they  had  a  love  for  the  sea 
which  was  manifested  in  their  custom  of  going 
to  the  hilltops  to  look  over  the  waters  surrounding 
their  home.  Indeed,  they  built  platforms  on  top 
of  their  houses  that  they  might  have  lookout 
perches  more  convenient  than  the  hills.  And 
according  to  a  tradition  of  the  island  the  habit  of 
going  to  the  hilltops  to  look  at  the  sea  eventually 
turned  the  thoughts  of  the  people  toward  the  whale 
fishery.  As  a  number  of  the  people  were  on  Folly 
House  Hill  one  day,  so  the  story  runs,  one  man 
pointed  to  a  school  of  whales  seen  offshore  and 
exclaimed : 

"There  is  a  pasture  where  our  children's  grand- 
children will  go  for  bread." 

Of  course  it  was  an  idle  remark,  worded  in  a 
manner  peculiar  to  the  day,  but  it  was  remembered 
for  the  reason  that  within  the  year  when  the  re- 
mark was  made  (1690,  according  to  Starbuck), 
the  people  of  the  island  began  to  go  regularly  to 
that  offshore  "pasture"  for  "bread." 


44     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  Nantucket  method  of  undertaking  the 
whaling  business  was  characteristic  and  memo- 
rable. They  sent  in  1690  to  Cape  Cod,  where, 
as  they  knew,  "the  people  had  made  greater  pro- 
ficiency in  the  art  of  whale  catching  than  them- 
selves," and  hired  Ichabod  Paddock,  an  expert, 
to  come  to  the  island  and  teach  them  how  to  do 
the  work. 

Comparisons  may  be  odious,  but  they  are  none 
the  less  instructive.  In  the  period  when  the  Nan- 
tucket  people  sent  to  Cape  Cod  for  a  teacher  of 
the  arts  of  whaling,  the  French  Canadians  were 
also  thinking  about  engaging  in  the  same  enter- 
prise. As  early  as  1636  (Thwaites's  Jesuit  Rela- 
tions, IX,  169),  the  Basque  whalers  worked  in  the 
St.  Lawrence  River  "up  as  far  as  Tadousac,  or 
farther,"  and  schools  of  whales  were  seen  at 
"  Kebec."  But  when  seeing  these  whales  finally 
turned  the  thoughts  of  the  French  Canadians  to 
the  whale  fishery,  they  did  not  hire  a  Basque  to 
teach  them  the  arts;  they  applied  to  their  king 
for  a  subsidy  with  which  to  hire  Basque  whalers 
to  do  the  work  for  them.  The  king  gave  them  the 
"  encouragement "  they  said  they  needed  to  estab- 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  45 

lish  the  industry.  Some  Basques  were  brought 
over  to  go  whaling.  Some  individual  French 
Canadians  thus  made  some  money.  But  when 
the  king  ceased  giving  the  encouragement,  the 
fishery  ended.  The  difference  between  the 
French  Canadians,  with  their  subsidy,  and  the 
Nantucket  people,  with  their  schoolmaster,  seems 
particularly  well  worth  the  attention  of  the  pa- 
triotic Americans  who  are  now  interested  in  sea- 
faring matters. 

Under  the  lead  of  Ichabod  Paddock  the  south 
shore  of  the  island  (more  whales  were  seen  off 
the  south  than  the  north  shore)  was  divided  into 
four  beats,  or  districts,  each  about  three  and  a  half 
miles  long.  To  each  beat  six  men  were  assigned. 
A  hut  was  built  at  the  centre  of  each  district  for 
the  shelter  of  the  crew  during  stormy  weather,  and 
a  tall  spar  with  a  "crow's  nest,"  or  lookout  perch, 
at  the  top  was  erected  on  a  sand  dune  near  each 
hut  to  give  a  wide  range  to  the  eyes  of  a  man  who 
was  kept  on  the  perch  at  all  times  during  the  day, 
and  possibly  during  moonlit  nights. 

These  crews  "carried  on  their  business  in  com- 
mon." They  united  their  labor  and  means  to 


46     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

build  the  huts,  erect  the  spars,  build  the  boats, 
and  buy  the  necessary  gear.  When  one  crew  went 
in  chase  of  a  whale,  the  others,  summoned  by  a 
signal,  joined  as  soon  as  possible.  When  a  whale 
was  killed  the  crews  united  to  save  the  oil  at  try 
works  erected  near  the  beach  for  the  purpose,  and 
all  shared  alike  in  the  product. 

The  work  of  getting  the  blubber  into  the  pot  was 
particularly  laborious.  The  huge  carcass  had  to 
be  towed  to  the  surf,  and  these  men  knew  whether 
it  was  easier  to  tow  it  head  first  or  tail  first.  At 
the  beach  the  blubber  was  dragged  from  the  car- 
cass by  means  of  a  sort  of  capstan  called  a  crab, 
after  which  it  was  cut  into  chunks  that  could  be 
lifted  into  a  cart. 

As  these  men  labored  on  the  beach  they  were  wet 
with  the  spray  and  with  the  sweat  of  their  toil; 
they  were  chilled  by  the  north  wind's  blast;  they 
were  smeared  over  with  the  grease  of  the  blubber, 
and  they  were  stung  by  the  flying  sand  that  the 
wind  carried ;  but  they  kept  the  pot  boiling. 

As  on  Long  Island,  the  Indians  were  employed. 
They  soon  learned  to  use  the  white  man's  weapons, 
and  because  they  accepted  as  pay  the  unmarket- 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  47 

able  parts  of  the  whale,  with  clothing  and  other 
things  manufactured  by  the  whites,  they  were 
exceedingly  profitable  hands.  The  Nantucket 
solution  of  the  race  problem  is  memorable  in 
connection  with  modern  race  problems. 

The  success  of  this  first  whale  fishery  is  manifest 
from  the  fact  that  it  not  only  persisted,  but  it  grew. 
From  keeping  men  perched  on  top  of  tall  spars, 
"in  order  to  observe  the  spouting  of  whales," 
the  Nantucket  men  began  to  go  afloat  in  their 
open  boats.  They  went  cruising  offshore  and 
thus  at  once  increased  their  opportunities  and 
acquired  a  skill  and  a  venturesome  habit  of 
thought,  which  were  of  the  utmost  importance. 
The  records  show  the  results  of  their  enterprise. 
In  1726  twenty-eight  boats  saved  eighty-six  whales. 
Captain  Abishai  Folger  is  credited  with  six,  while 
Captain  James  Johnson  and  Captain  Shubael 
Folger  killed  five  each.  The  savings  of  the  others 
numbered  from  four  down  to  one. 

It  was  in  the  stories  of  the  offshore  cruising 
that  the  account  of  the  red  whaler  hero,  as  told 
in  the  last  chapter,  was  found,  and  it  was  there, 
too,  that  the  adventure  of  the  first  white  whaler 


48     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

hero  of  the  island  is  described.  Captain  Chris- 
topher Hussey,  probably  a  son  of  one  of  the 
"Twenty  Purchasers,"  while  in  command  of  an 
open  boat,  in  1712,  was  blown  away  to  sea.  That 
all  hands  labored  with  all  their  might  to  reach  land 
is  not  to  be  doubted,  but  a  time  came  when  they 
could  do  no  more. 

As  they  were  drifting  away  through  the  deadly 
perils  of  a  winter's  storm  on  the  open  sea,  however, 
a  school  of  sperm  whales  suddenly  appeared. 
These  Nantucket  men  had  seen  one  whale  of  that 
kind.  It  had  drifted  ashore,  dead,  and  they  had 
probably  shared  in  the  product.  A  sperm  whale 
was  to  them  like  a  "pay  streak"  to  a  Rocky  Moun- 
tain prospector,  for  "sperm,"  taken  from  a  cavity 
in  the  head,  was  "thought  to  be  of  great  value 
for  medicinal  purposes,  ...  a  certain  cure  for  all 
diseases,  .  .  .  esteemed  to  be  worth  its  weight  in 
silver,"  or  eight  shillings  an  ounce. 

And  there  within  reach  of  the  drifting  Hussey 
and  his  crew  was  a  school  of  sperm  whales. 
Forgotten  was  the  danger!  Though  the  devil 
himself  were  knocking  the  spume  from  the  wave 
crests,  Hussey  would  go  in  chase  of  such  a  prize, 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  49 

and  his  men  would  bend  to  their  oars  at  the 
word. 

Thereupon  safety  was  found  in  aggressive 
courage.  Having  killed  the  whale,  the  "slick" 
(the  oil  that  oozed  from  the  carcass)  smoothed  the 
sea  so  that  they  rode  out  the  gale  in  safety.  Then 
they  towed  their  prize  to  the  beach  —  the  first  of 
the  kind  ever  killed  by  Nantucket  whalers. 

Most  interesting  is  a  picture  of  Nantucket  life 
at  that  time.  Every  family  had  a  home,  —  a  log 
house  with  a  thatched  roof,  or  at  best  a  roof  of 
shingles  that  were  held  in  place  with  long  poles. 
They  all  owned  sheep,  cattle,  and  hogs  that 
ranged  the  common  pastures,  and  they  cut  their 
fuel  in  the  common  forest;  but  they  raised  their 
corn  and  wheat  on  lands  which  each  owned  in- 
dividually. In  connection  with  the  fuel  it  was 
noted  in  the  annals  that  the  poorest  among  them 
warmed  himself  at  a  better  fire  than  the  lords  of 
England  could  afford.  And  that  they  should  have 
drawn  such  a  comparison  is  a  memorable  fact  be- 
cause it  shows  that  Young  America  was  looking 
up. 

Their  farms  not  only  afforded  food,  but  cloth- 

£ 


50     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

ing.  The  women  spun  the  wool  of  the  sheep  into 
yarn  that  was  woven  as  well  as  knitted,  and  some 
of  the  skins  of  domestic  animals  were  used  for 
clothing. 

It  is  noted  in  connection  with  the  farm  work 
that  loans  of  seed  and  animals  were  easily  obtained 
by  all  who  needed  such  an  accommodation  because 
such  loans  were  held  to  be  "debts  of  honor." 
While  all  were  farmers,  none  lived  isolated.  The 
homes  were  in  the  village  that  was  then  called 
Sherbourne.1  The  houses  were  built  close  to- 
gether, too.  While  the  man  was  away  from  home 
it  was  a  comfort  to  the  wife  to  live  with  her  neigh- 
bors close  at  hand. 

Because  they  lived  simply  the  men  found  that 
they  needed  to  give  only  a  few  days  to  their  farms 
to  produce  the  necessities  of  life,  and  thus  they 
were  free  to  give  many  days  to  the  profitable  open- 
boat  whaling. 

In  the  meantime  the  original  plan  of  holding  all 
things  in  common  in  the  whale  fishery  had  failed 

1  In  the  earliest  days  the  village  stood  some  distance  west 
of  its  present  location.  It  was  moved  because  the  people 
needed  the  better  harbor  facility  found  at  the  present  site. 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  51 

to  give  universal  satisfaction.  Some  who  were 
stronger  and  more  skilful  than  others  thought 
themselves  entitled  to  shares  that  should  be  in 
proportion  to  the  work  they  did ;  and,  being 
stronger  and  more  skilful,  they  took  the  larger 
shares  to  which  they  thought  themselves  entitled, 
and  the  original  associations  of  all  on  equal  terms 
developed  into  a  system  of  partnerships. 

The  socialistic  community  had  separated  into 
groups  of  partners  in  Hussey's  time  (1712). 
Working  as  partners  the  men  of  Nantucket  cut 
trees  in  the  forest,  whip-sawed  the  logs  into  lumber, 
and  with  the  lumber  built  boats.  Iron  (Spain 
made  the  best  in  the  world  then)  was  secured  in 
exchange  for  oil,  and  the  blacksmith  forged  the 
iron  into  nails  for  the  boats,  and  into  harpoons 
and  lances.  The  lines  or  warps  were  also 
purchased  with  oil. 

In  the  meantime  some  Nantucket  men  had 
invested  in  sloops  fit  for  use  on  the  open  sea,  fit, 
that  is,  when  manned  by  such  sailors  as  Nan- 
tucket now  boasted.  The  first  vessel  larger  than 
a  rowboat  owned  on  the  island  was  the  sloop 
Mary,  of  twenty-five  tons,  built  in  Boston  in  1694 


52     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  sold  to  Richard  Gardner  and  his  partners  of 
Nantucket  four  years  later.  When  Hussey  brought 
his  sperm  whale  to  the  try  pot,  five  sloops  of  from 
fifteen  to  forty  tons  each  were  owned  on  the  island, 
and  with  visions  of  the  product  of  the  sperm  whale 
that  was  "esteemed  to  be  worth  its  weight  in  silver," 
the  people  of  the  island  began  to  fit  out  their 
sloops  for  whaling  cruises  of  from  five  to  seven 
weeks'  duration;  for  the  sperm  whale  was  to  be 
found  only  in  deep  water.  Of  course  the  vision 
of  "sperma  Coeti,"  salable  at  eight  shillings  an 
ounce,  proved  to  be  a  mirage;  but  beyond  the 
mirage  was  a  solid  substance  of  fine  oil  and  candles 
worth  good  money. 

Cash  capital  was  lacking  on  Nantucket,  and 
throughout  New  England,  for  that  matter;  but 
these  men  who  had  wrung  the  necessities  of  life 
from  the  sterile  land  were  able,  through  a  union  of 
labor,  and  in  spite  of  a  lack  of  currency,  to  embark 
in  a  business  that  not  only  sent  open  boats  rowing 
alongshore,  but  fitted  out  vessels  able  to  keep  the 
sea  for  two  months  at  a  stretch. 

Out  of  the  partnership  system  of  fitting  out 
whale  ships  grew  the  later  "lay"  system  of  paying 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  53 

the  crew.  At  first,  as  noted,  the  owners  were  the 
crews,  save  only  as  the  Indians  were  hired.  When 
some  had  accumulated  capital,  they  hired  white 
men  as  well  as  Indians.  But  instead  of  paying 
monthly  wages,  as  was  done  on  vessels  in  the  cargo- 
carrying  trade,  the  owners  took  the  sailors  into  a 
form  of  partnership  by  assigning  to  each  a  share 
of  the  expected  catch,  this  share  being  called  a 
"lay."  The  lay  was  large  or  small,  according  to 
the  skill  and  strength  of  each  man  employed. 

The  "lay"  system  of  paying  will  be  described 
more  particularly  in  another  place ;  but  it  is  to  be 
noted  here  that  even  after  common  ownership  of 
boats  and  gear  had  been  replaced  by  private 
ownership,  men  who  had  not  invested  a  penny 
or  a  day's  labor  in  either  boat  or  ship  or  gear 
were  yet  made  partners  in  the  cruise  for  whales; 
they  received  a  share  of  the  catch  in  proportion 
to  their  skill  and  efficiency.  Even  the  apprentice 
who  helped  the  cook  prepare  the  meals  had  his 
"lay."  Where  European  whalers  of  those  days 
sharpened  the  eyes  of  the  men  on  lookout  by  an 
application  of  the  "cat,"  every  member  of  the 
Nantucket  crew  felt  the  dignity  and  responsibility 
of  an  owner. 


54     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Consider,  too,  how  the  partnership  plan  of  fit- 
ting out  the  whalers  affected  the  whole  industry. 
The  coopers  made  casks  in  which  the  blubber  was 
stowed  until  it  could  be  brought  back  to  the  try 
pots  that  were  yet  located  on  shore.  The  boat- 
builders,  blacksmiths,  and  coopers  —  every  one 
that  furnished  anything  to  the  whaling  outfit  — 
became  an  owner  or  stockholder  in  the  new  en- 
terprise, and  received  a  share  of  the  proceeds 
in  proportion  to  what  he  had  supplied.  In  like 
manner  the  men  who  tried  out  the  oil  were  share- 
holders. It  was  therefore  inevitable  that  each 
man  should  do  his  work  as  well  as  he  could;  he 
was  working  for  himself. 

The  frontier  home  makers  who  subdued  the 
wilds  of  the  nation  have  been  justly  lauded  for 
their  enterprise,  courage,  and  fortitude.  The 
men  of  Nantucket  not  only  did  all  that  was  done 
by  home  makers  elsewhere,  but  while  they  sub- 
dued the  land  they  also  accumulated  capital  for 
and  established  a  new  industry  which  prospered 
in  a  way  that  yet  excites  astonishment. 

It  was  in  1690  that  the  islanders  hired  Ichabod 
Paddock  to  teach  them  the  arts  of  the  whaler. 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  55 

Four  years  later  they  bought  their  first  sloop.  In 
1712,  the  year  that  Hussey  killed  his  first  sperm 
whale,  five  sloops  were  owned  on  the  island.  Two 
years  later  the  number  was  increased  to  nine,  of 
which  six  were  in  the  deep-water  whale  fishery. 
These  sloops,  in  1715,  secured  600  barrels  of  oil 
and  11,000  pounds  of  bone,  which  were  sold  for 
£1100.  In  1730  Nantucket  had  twenty-five 
whalers  in  commission  and  they  brought  home 
oil  and  bone  that  sold  for  £3200. 

In  the  meantime  the  alongshore  or  open-boat 
fishery  had  been  growing;  it  was  in  1726  that 
the  eighty-six  whales  already  mentioned  were 
taken. 

A  glance  at  the  shipping  in  the  coastwise  and 
over-sea  trade  of  the  colonies,  in  the  early  days, 
will  give  one  a  better  idea  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  whalers  made  progress.  Ships  were 
built  and  fitted  out  at  various  points  on  the  coast 
by  men  who  had  little  or  no  cash  capital,  but 
an  abundance  of  strength  and  enterprise.  They 
began  with  fishing  smacks  of  the  smallest  size, 
and  the  codfish  they  obtained  with  the  smacks, 
when  exported,  brought  the  iron,  sails,  ropes,  etc., 


56     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

needed  in  building  larger  vessels.  Timber  prod- 
ucts were  important  items  in  the  exports,  and, 
in  time,  finished  ships.  So  the  colonists  became 
ship  owners  and  merchants  trading  to  many  for- 
eign parts. 

The  profits  on  the  early  voyages  varied  greatly. 
Weeden  notes  that  a  cargo  brought  from  Bermuda, 
in  1636,  by  Thomas  May  hew,  returned  a  profit 
of  "twenty  od  pounds."  John  Winter  of  Rich- 
mond Island,  Maine,  in  1639,  sent  pipe  staves  cost- 
ing £6  141.  3^/.  to  England,  and  realized  £26  \"js. 
on  the  venture.  A  schooner  that  went  to  Nova 
Scotia  to  trade  for  furs  secured  a  cargo  valued  at 
£1000.  John  Hull,  a  notable  merchant  of  Massa- 
chusetts, wrote  that  the  profit  in  the  passage  of 
a  ship  from  London  "may  be  neer  £100." 

The  slave  trade  was  often  particularly  profitable. 
In  1696,  for  instance,  the  brigantine  Seaflower 
brought  forty-seven  negroes  from  Africa  to  Rhode 
Island,  which  sold  for  from  £30  to  £35  each.  In 
1727  a  prime  slave,  fresh  from  Africa,  would  bring 
as  high  as  £80  at  Salem.  Of  course  the  cost  of 
slaves  on  the  African  coast  varied.  A  few  gallons 
of  rum  or  "ten  shillings  in  English  goods"  often 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  57 

sufficed.  At  other  times  the  trader  had  to  give 
goods  costing  as  much  as  £12.  The  margin  at 
worst  was  large.  Then  because  the  negroes  were 
generally  sold  in  the  West  Indies,  and  a  cargo 
was  brought  thence  to  the  home  port,  another 
profit  was  secured. 

Rum  was  the  best  cargo  taken  to  the  black 
coasts  for  trade,  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that 
while  the  Nantucket  people  were  developing  the 
whale  fishery,  their  neighbors  in  Rhode  Island 
were  developing  especial  skill  as  distillers  of 
molasses.  Rhode  Islanders  were  noted  for  their 
ability  to  make  a  gallon  of  rum  from  a  gallon  of 
molasses,  and  in  consequence  of  their  superior 
distilling  they  soon  had  a  long  lead  in  the  slave 
trade.  As  is  pointed  out  in  The  American  Slave 
Trade,  "Rhode  Island  had  150  vessels  in  the 
African  slave  trade  in  1770." 

In  the  cod  fishery  of  the  seventeenth  century 
the  ship  owners  took  half  the  catch,  the  crew 
dividing  the  other  half.  Later  the  owner  had  to 
be  content  with  only  a  fifth,  if  he  were  to  get  a 
crew  for  his  ship,  and  thereafter  the  thrifty  crews 
had  opportunity  to  become  owners. 


58     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

In  the  coasting  and  the  over-sea  voyages  of  the 
freighters  it  was  customary  to  allow  captains  and 
mates  to  carry  "private  ventures."  Each  with 
his  own  money  bought  such  goods  as  he  supposed 
would  sell  in  the  ports  to  which  the  ship  was  bound. 
These  goods  were  (in  limited  quantities,  of  course) 
carried  free  of  charge.  The  proceeds  were  in- 
vested in  foreign  goods  for  the  home  market. 
A  few  voyages  were  made  in  which  the  crew 
received  no  wages;  the  profit  on  the  private 
ventures  which  all  carried  sufficed.  The  slaver 
captain,  in  addition  to  his  wages,  had  a  commission 
of  five  per  cent  on  the  sale  of  the  negroes  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  five  per  cent  more  on  the  purchase 
of  a  cargo  there  for  the  home  market.  Further- 
more he  was  allowed  the  price  of  four  out  of  every 
one  hundred  and  four  slaves  delivered  in  good 
order,  and  was  permitted  to  buy  five  more  with 
his  own  money  and  carry  them  freight  free.  The 
mates  were  allowed  to  carry  two  negroes  each, 
bought  with  their  own  money,  free.  In  short,  in 
all  the  colonial  ships  of  early  days  all  of  the 
officers,  and  at  times  the  men,  had  some  oppor- 
tunity for  profit  beyond  the  wages  paid.  Thrift 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  59 

and  enterprise  were  encouraged,  with  the  result  that 
American  shipping  increased  at  a  marvellous  pace. 
Most  interesting  is  a  comparison  of  the  oppor- 
tunities of  the  men  in  the  various  kinds  of  ships 
during  the  early  (eighteenth  century)  days  of  the 
colonies.  The  average  captain  of  the  average 
slaver  certainly  made  much  more  money  than  the 
average  whaler  captain.  Even  when  the  owners 
of  cod-fishing  vessels  took  one-half  the  catch,  the 
crews  received  a  greater  per  cent  on  the  sale  of  the 
fare  than  the  crews  of  whalers  secured  from  their 
lays.  If  the  fact  that  a  slave  ship  was  a  floating 
cesspool  kept  Nantucket  men  from  the  slave  trade, 
there  was  no  such  objection  to  the  cod  fishery. 
Even  the  cargo-carrying  trade  afforded,  on  the 
average,  more  money  to  the  crews  than  the  whale 
fishery.  Hull  paid  his  captains  £4  a  month  and 
his  best  seamen  £2  los.  The  average  whaler 
did  not  get  as  much  as  that.  Thus  in  1730  the 
twenty-five  vessels  that  brought  in  £3200  worth 
of  product  had  only  £128  each.  The  captains  with 
a  lay  of  one-eighteenth  received  for  that  year  less 
on  the  average  than  £8,  where  one  of  Hull's 
captains  earned  £48. 


60     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

How  did  it  happen,  then,  that  anybody  went 
in  search  of  whales  ?  Why  did  not  all  Nantucket 
men  forsake  whaling  for  the  cod  fishery  or 
cargo  carrying  ?  For  one  thing,  habit  held  them 
from  it.  The  men  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  living 
within  easy  reach  of  populous  fishing  banks,  had 
developed  the  cod-fishing  habit;  the  Nantucket 
men,  living  near  the  whale-feeding  grounds,  had 
developed  the  whaling  habit.  Further  than  that, 
the  income  of  the  whaler  was  not  as  bad  as  the 
figures  make  it  seem,  for  there  is  no  statement  of 
the  length  of  time  passed  at  sea  in  securing  the 
£3200  worth  of  oil  and  bone.  At  most  the  captain 
was  afloat  for  three  or  four  cruises  in  the  course  of 
a  year,  and  a  cruise  lasted  for  six  or  eight  weeks. 
The  Nantucket  men  were  yet  farmers  as  well  as 
whalers;  they  spent  much  time  caring  for  land 
and  flocks.  The  average  yearly  whaling  income 
of  a  captain  was  usually  earned  within  six  months, 
at  most,  passed  at  sea. 

Of  course,  even  with  these  facts  in  view,  the 
whaling  income  on  the  average  was  so  far  below 
that  of  the  other  seafaring  men  that  one  must 
look  still  farther  to  understand  the  matter.  Any 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  61 

inference  drawn  from  a  statement  of  the  average 
income  of  the  whalers  is  sure  to  be  misleading 
in  a  consideration  of  the  influence  of  the  fishery 
upon  its  followers.  The  important  fact  is  that  they 
never  calculated  average  incomes.  From  captain 
to  cabin  boy  every  member  of  every  crew  had  his 
mind  constantly  fixed  on  the  uncommon  voyage 
—  the  "greasy"  voyage  which  the  skilful  master 
and  the  "lucky"  ship  made  every  year.  If  the 
present  voyage  proved  dry,  no  matter;  the  next 
would  be  greasy  enough  to  make  up  for  the  present 
loss. 

Nantucket  people  were  not  gamblers,  for  in  spite 
of  a  lack  of  "  meeting  houses  "  that  was  shocking  to 
Puritan  ideas,  they  were  deeply  religious  in  their 
way ;  but  some  ships  took  more  whales  than  others, 
and  the  thought  of  being  one  of  the  crew  of  a 
"greasy  ship"  —  one  that  was  filled  with  oil  quickly 
— was  fascinating.  A  man  might,  as  some  men  did, 
make  a  year's  wages  in  two  months,  and  he  would 
get  his  pay  in  a  lump.  Owners  and  crews  were 
alike  in  this  respect.  All  whalers  eagerly  "took 
chances";  they  were  under  the  sway  of  the  gam- 
bler's instinct. 


62     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  worth  mentioning  here, 
that  in  the  seventeenth  century  employers  on  land 
were  sometimes  fined  for  paying,  and  workmen 
were  publicly  flogged  for  accepting,  higher  wages 
than  the  law  prescribed.  The  whalemen  who 
went  to  sea  for  a  "lay"  were  not  subject  to  any 
such  law. 

If  the  owners  be  considered  by  themselves,  it  is 
found  that  they  were  doing  pretty  well  even  on 
the  average.  Their  income  compared  very  well 
with  Mayhew's  "twenty  od  pounds"  profit  on  a 
voyage  to  the  Bermudas.  This  is  of  interest  be- 
cause the  increasing  wealth  of  the  owners  was 
not  a  matter  that  excited,  at  that  time,  the  envy 
of  the  forecastle  men.  It  excited,  rather,  their 
emulation,  because  every  ambitious  forecastle 
man  had  opportunity  to  become  an  owner  —  to 
hold  shares  in  ships.  Ownership  followed  easily 
on  the  lay  system  of  paying  the  crew.  At  the  end 
of  every  "greasy"  voyage  the  men  drew  more 
money  than  they  needed  for  home  and  personal 
supplies  (they  drew  it  "in  a  lump,"  too),  and  it 
was  the  natural  and  usual  thing  for  them  to  invest 
the  surplus  in  the  business  wherein  they  had  made 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  63 

it.  Many  a  Nantucket  capitalist  began  his  in- 
vestments in  whaling  ships  by  buying  a  five-dollar 
or  a  ten-dollar  share.  And  this  fact  seems  worth 
the  consideration  of  those  who  would  like  to  see 
the  American  high-seas  fleet  increased. 

Although  the  whaler's  opportunity  for  acquiring 
wealth  has  been  considered  first  of  all  among  the 
incentives  which  drew  him  into  his  career  afloat, 
it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  call  of  greed  was 
stronger  on  Nantucket  than  that  of  pride  and 
ambition.  John  Paul  Jones  was  not  the  only 
man  of  the  eighteenth  century  who  spelled  rank 
with  a  capital  R.  In  the  slavers  and  freighters 
the  ambitious  youngsters  saw  above  them  at  most 
four  posts  of  honor,  —  the  berths  of  boatswain, 
second  mate,  first  mate,  and  captain.  By  good 
work  they  could,  in  time,  reach  the  highest  rank, 
and  the  boy  whose  blood  was  not  stirred  at  the 
thought  of  pacing  a  quarterdeck  as  captain  of  a 
ship  was  a  "poor  stick"  indeed.  So  exalted  did 
the  position  of  captain  seem  that  in  their  deter- 
mination to  reach  it  boys  were  known  to  wade 
barefooted  through  the  snow  from  the  farm  to  the 
wharf,  where  they  might  ship  as  foremast  hands. 


64     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

And  those  barefooted  boys  worked  their  way 
aft  to  the  berths  of  mates  and  captains  with  the 
rapidity,  and  with  the  ease  and  certainty,  with 
which  they  climbed  on  a  stormy  night  to  the 
weather-topsail  yard-arm  when  sail  was  to  be 
shortened.  "Bill"  Phipps,  the  backwoods  orphan 
boy,  went  to  sea  before  the  mast  and  in  time  came 
to  be  known  as  Sir  William.  Every  ship's  deck 
was  then  a  pathway  to  honorable  distinction,  but 
in  no  other  ship  could  an  ambitious  green  hand 
gain  rank  so  quickly  as  on  a  whaler;  for  the 
whaler  carried  more  officers  than  any  other  ship, 
and  the  necessities  of  the  work  compelled  the 
officers  to  give  much  attention  to  the  training  of 
the  inexperienced. 

The  whale  ship  not  only  carried  a  captain  and 
at  least  two  mates,  as  other  ships  did,  but  it  carried 
also  a  harpooner  for  every  boat  on  the  davits. 
And  it  was  no  small  distinction  to  rank  as  har- 
pooner on  a  successful  whaler.  In  the  work  of 
killing  a  whale  the  harpooner  stood  up  in  the  bow 
of  the  boat,  as  it  danced  and  plunged  over  the 
waves;  poised  aloft  the  harpoon,  and  then  hurled 
the  weapon  through  the  air  with  a  might  that  drove 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  65 

it  "to  the  hitches"  into  the  body  of  the  whale. 
On  the  accuracy  and  strength  of  the  harpooner 
(and  splendid  courage  was  at  the  bottom  of  his 
skill  and  strength)  the  ship  depended,  first  of  all, 
for  success  in  saving  the  whale. 

It  is  particularly  notable  that  the  harpooner  held 
the  post  of  danger.  The  tossing  flukes  and  the 
open  jaws  of  the  wounded  monsters  reached  the 
man  at  the  bow  more  frequently  than  any  other 
of  the  boat's  crew.  And  as  the  whale  fled,  drag- 
ging out  the  warp  that  was  attached  to  the  harpoon, 
the  flying  coils  of  the  line  caught  many  a  harpooner 
and  dragged  him  to  death  under  the  sea. 

It  is  noted  in  most  descriptions  of  whale  killing 
that  where  the  warp  or  harpoon  line  leaves  the 
boat  it  passes  through  a  wooden  Y  standing  at 
the  extreme  bow.  A  small  wooden  peg  was 
inserted  through  holes  in  the  arms  of  the  Y  to 
keep  the  rope  from  flying  out.  This  peg  was  a 
mere  sliver  which  any  Yankee  could  whittle  to 
shape  in  two  minutes;  but  the  harpooners  of 
Nantucket,  when  on  shore  and  dressed  for  society 
(especially  when  dressed  for  a  "squantum,"  as 
a  picnic  was  called),  wore  those  pegs  as  medals  of 


66     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

honor.  And  every  citizen  of  Nantucket,  and  of 
every  other  community  where  whalers  were  known, 
accepted  the  pegs  as  evidence  of  distinguished 
services  afloat.  The  ambitious,  agile  youth  on 
a  freighter  often  served  for  several  years  before 
he  was  able  to  work  his  way  aft  to  the  berth  of  a 
second  mate,  but  in  the  whale  ship  he  often  had 
opportunity  during  his  first  cruise  to  earn  the 
right  to  wear  the  harpooner's  badge. 

Last  of  all,  consider  the  secret  society  that  the 
girls  of  Nantucket  formed,  a  veritable  Masonic 
order  in  its  strength  and  beneficent  influence,  if 
we  may  believe  the  whaler  annals.  Though  a 
man  searched  the  ports  of  the  wide  world  from 
Spitzbergen  around  both  capes  to  the  Sea  of 
Okhotsk,  he  could  find  no  girls  to  equal  those  of 
Nantucket  Island  ;  and  every  one  of  them,  obeying 
the  precept  of  the  ever  present  presiding  genius 
of  their  society  ("The  Widow's  Daughter?") 
was  pledged  not  to  marry  any  man  until  he  had 
"struck  his  whale." 

By  its  appeal  to  pride,  ambition,  greed  —  to 
the  most  powerful  passions  of  the  human  mind 
—  the  pursuit  of  the  whale  drew  every  Nantucket 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  67 

lad  to  the  sea,  and  there  gave  him  the  heart  of  a 
hero. 

In  1712  Hussey  showed  the  way  to  deep-water 
fishing.  With  every  voyage  thereafter  the  eager 
whalemen  sailed  farther  from  the  home  port.  The 
Gulf  Stream  was  reached,  and  abundant  wealth 
was  found  there  because  of  the  whale  food  that 
floated  along  the  edge  of  its  current.  The  whalers 
were  the  first  sailors  to  recognize  the  existence 
of  this  remarkable  river  of  the  sea,  and  through 
them  all  American  captains  learned  to  avoid  it 
when  westward  bound  across  the  Atlantic.  They 
told  the  English  captains  about  it,  but  for  many 
years  the  proud  Briton  refused  to  take  instruction 
from  any  colonial,  even  though  Franklin  (whose 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Peter  Folger,  a  Nan- 
tucket  whaleman)  made  a  chart  of  the  stream 
that  had  general  circulation. 

Cruising  along  the  Gulf  Stream  the  whalers 
went  south  to  the  Hatteras  grounds,  and  on  to  the 
coast  of  Cuba.  Cruising  north  and  east  they  went 
to  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  and  on  to  the  waters 
about  the  Azores  and  Madeira,  where  a  narrow 
space,  quickly  crossed,  separated  them  from  the 
grounds  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 


68     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

In  1732  American  whalers  went  to  Greenland 
to  hunt  the  whale  among  the  ice  fields  off  Cape 
Desolation,  and  it  is  recorded  that  "Capt.  Atkins, 
returning  from  a  whaling  voyage  thence,  brought 
a  Greenland  bear."  Crossing  the  equator  they 
pursued  the  whales  off  the  headlands  of  Brazil, 
along  the  desert  coasts  of  Patagonia,  and  among 
the  treeless  Falklands.  In  1767  no  less  than  fifty 
New  England  whalers  went  to  far  southern  waters 
"by  way  of  experiment,"  as  the  chronicle  says. 

A  table  of  dates  of  the  extension  of  the  Nan- 
tucket  fishery,  as  found  in  the  Merchants'  Maga- 
zine, November,  1840,  is  as  follows: 

The  Island  of  Disco,  in  the  mouth  of  Baffin's  Bay, 
in  the  year  1751. 

Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  1761. 
Coast  of  Guinea,  1763. 
Coast  of  Brazil,  1774. 

It  was  when  inspired  by  the  enterprise  of  Amer- 
ican whalemen  thus  exhibited  that  Edmund 
Burke,  in  his  speech  on  Conciliation  with  Amer- 
ica (now  a  schoolboy  classic),  said : 

No  sea  but  is  vexed  by  their  fisheries.  No  climate 
that  is  not  a  witness  to  their  toils.  Neither  the  perse- 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  69 

verance  of  Holland,  nor  the  activity  of  France,  nor  the 
dextrous  and  firm  sagacity  of  English  enterprise  ever 
carried  this  most  perilous  mode  of  hardy  industry  to  the 
extent  to  which  it  has  been  pushed  by  this  recent  people; 
a  people  who  are  still,  as  it  were,  but  in  the  gristle,  and 
not  yet  hardened  into  the  bone  of  manhood. 

The  market  was  sometimes  swamped,  for  a 
time,  by  the  flood  of  oil  poured  upon  it  by  the 
successful  whalers;  but  where  others  might  be 
embarrassed,  the  people  of  Nantucket  prospered 
steadily.  In  1730  they  began  building  their  own 
ships.  Captain  Isaac  Myrick  launched  a  "snow" 
of  118  tons  during  that  year,  a  snow  being  a  vessel 
having  one  square-rigged  mast  set  at  the  midship 
section  and  another  much  shorter  farther  aft. 
Sloops  and  schooners  of  from  30  to  60  tons  only 
had  satisfied  the  Nantucket  men  theretofore. 

In  1743  these  whalers  began  to  carry  try-pots  in 
furnaces  built  on  their  ships  to  try  out  the  blubber 
as  fast  as  it  was  saved,  and  larger  ships  were  then 
needed  for  the  longer  voyages  that  this  practice 
made  possible.  Yet  the  reader  is  not  to  think  of 
any  ship  of  the  day  as  being  large  by  any  modern 
standard.  An  Erie  canal  boat  carries  240  tons; 


jo     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

it   has   twice   the   capacity   of  Captain    Myrick's 
snow. 

In  1720  a  small  quantity  of  oil  was  shipped  from 
Nantucket  for  sale  in  London.  It  brought  a 
better  price  than  the  Boston  buyers  could  afford 
to  pay,  and  the  cordage,  canvas,  iron,  etc.,  which 
were  purchased  with  it,  were  much  cheaper  than 
the  same  goods  in  Boston.  This  led,  by  slow  de- 
grees, to  the  establishment  of  regular  direct  trade 
relations  with  London.  During  the  wars  that 
afflicted  the  seas  between  the  years  1740  and  1762 
the  American  whalers  were  much  troubled  by  the 
cruisers  and  privateers  of  the  enemy,  and  by 
pirates  also;  but  when  they  heard  the  reverbera- 
tions of  the  guns  at  Quebec,  they  made  haste  to  go 
whaling  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence;  and  while 
commissioners  were  considering  terms  of  peace 
in  Paris,  in  1762,  seventy-eight  whalers  cleared 
from  American  ports,  of  which  more  than  half 
were  from  Nantucket.  The  year  of  1766  saw 
118  vessels,  measuring  75  tons  each  on  the  aver- 
age, clear  from  Nantucket  alone.  They  brought 
home  11,969  barrels  of  oil  valued  at  $129,983. 
In  1770  the  Nantucket  fleet  numbered  125  ships 


Early  Days  on  Nantucket  71 

of  the  average  size  of  93  tons.  During  that  year 
they  took  14,331  barrels  of  oil  worth  $358,200. 

The  ship  owners  of  other  ports,  seeing  Nan- 
tucket's  prosperity,  had  tried  to  share  in  it.  Their 
success  was  fairly  good,  but  Nantucket  owned  at 
this  time  as  many  whale-ships  as  all  the  other 
ports  of  America  combined.  The  whale-ship 
owners  of  the  other  ports  were  obliged  to  send  to 
Nantucket  to  get  men  fit  to  serve  as  captains  and 
mates.  The  Nantucket  men  accepted  the  offers 
thus  made,  but  they  were  Nantucket  men  still; 
for  they  called  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  mainland 
"Coufs,"  an  uncomplimentary  designation  they 
had  learned  from  the  Indians. 

Travellers  from  Europe,  in  those  days,  were 
astonished  to  find  that  America  was  a  land  where 
"no  one  begged."  To  its  lasting  honor  Nantucket 
was  a  community  not  only  where  no  one  begged, 
but  where  every  man  was  a  laborer,  and  where 
every  man  was  a  capitalist,  or,  at  worst,  had 
capital  within  immediate  reach. 

"It  is  a  fascinating  theme.  Nowhere  in  the 
whole  history  and  evolution  of  peaceful  commerce 
has  such  actual  romance  emanated  as  glowed  in 


72     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  voyages  and  lives  of  these  homely  men.  These 
common  folk,  in  their  contest  with  the  monsters 
of  the  deep,  easily  paralleled  the  old  life  of  viking 
and  sea  rover."  (Weeden's  Economic  and  Social 
History  of  New  England.} 

But  the  evil  days  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
were  now  at  hand. 


IV 

THE   MINOR   COLONIAL   PORTS 

THE  story  of  Nantucket  is  by  no   means 
completed,  but  before  going  on  with  it 
some   account  of  the   whale   fishery  at 
other  ports  in  the  early  days  will  prove  of  interest. 
Whales  haunted  the  whole  New  England  coast. 
They  were  often  seen  in   Buzzard's  Bay  and  all 
the  length  of  Long  Island  Sound.     Indeed,  there 
is  an  account  of  one  that  worked  its  way  up  the 
Hudson  River  as  far  as  Cohoes.     As  on  Nantucket, 
the  settlers  everywhere  alongshore  were  farmers, 
woodsmen,  and  mariners  (half  horse,  half  alligator, 
was  the  description  applied  to  such  men  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley),  who  promptly  went  in  pursuit 
of  the  oil-bearing  monsters  whenever  good  oppor- 
tunity offered.      And  of  course  the  whales  that 
drifted  ashore  were  saved  —  with  some  bickerings 
over  the  ownership,   as   a   rule.      At   Cape   Cod 
and  on  Long  Island  the  pursuit  of  whales  became 
73 


74     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

a  regular  business  while  yet  the  Nantucket  people 
were  content  merely  to  save  those  that  floated 
ashore.  There  were  many  whalers  elsewhere. 
Salem  was  a  whaling  port  of  some  importance 
as  early  as  1700.  The  records  of  Martha's  Vine- 
yard show  that  whales  were  killed  alongshore  in 
1702.  The  Rhode  Island  sailors  went  in  pursuit 
of  whales  at  an  early  date,  and  in  1731  the  colony's 
assembly  offered  a  bounty  of  five  shillings  for  every 
barrel  of  whale  oil  and  a  penny  a  pound  for  bone 
taken  by  Rhode  Island  vessels  and  carried  into 
the  colony.  The  sloop  Pelican,  Captain  Benjamin 
Thurston,  was  the  first  vessel  to  receive  the  bounty 
thus  offered.  She  brought  114  barrels  of  oil  and 
200  pounds  of  bone  to  Newport  in  1733. 

In  1738  Captain  Benjamin  Chase,  a  successful 
Nantucket  whaler,  moved  to  Martha's  Vineyard, 
intending  to  build  up  the  whaling  business  on  that 
island.  He  bought  twenty  acres  of  land  on  Edgar- 
town  harbor,  built  a  wharf,  and  erected  try-works. 
In  the  meantime  he  sent  his  sloop,  called  the 
Diamond,  to  deep  water  after  whales.  But  a 
change  of  residence  brought  a  change  of  luck;  he 
failed.  Between  1738  and  1744  three  other  capi- 


The  Minor  Colonial  Ports  75 

talists,  one  of  whom  had  made  a  success  on  Nan- 
tucket,  went  to  Martha's  Vineyard  to  establish 
the  fishery  at  Edgartown,  and  all  failed  as  Chase 
had  done.  Then  the  tide  turned  and  Edgartown 
was  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  a  moderately 
successful  whaling  port. 

More  important  than  any  or  all  of  the  other 
minor  ports  of  that  day  was  the  settlement  which 
eventually  developed  into  the  famous  port  of  New 
Bedford,  on  Buzzard's  Bay.  The  land  where  New 
Bedford  now  stands  was  bought  of  the  Indians 
by  William  Bradford  and  others  in  1652.  The 
first  settlers  were  nearly  all  driven  away  by  King 
Philip's  War;  but  when  peace  was  made  they  re- 
turned and  prospered.  Remembering  that  Nan- 
tucket  was  first  settled  through  the  persecution  of 
the  Quakers,  and  that  as  it  increased  in  popula- 
tion nine-tenths  of  the  inhabitants  were  of  that 
liberty-loving  sect,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
people  of  the  New  Bedford  region  were  for  the 
greater  part  Quakers,  and  that  their  settlement 
first  acquired  notoriety  in  New  England  through 
their  persistent  refusal  to  support  a  minister  of 
the  Puritan  creed.  When  the  General  Court 


j6     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

levied  a  tax  of  £100,  though  the  tax  roll  did  not 
mention  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  to  be  used, 
the  Quakers  saw  that  it  would  be  given  to  a  Puri- 
tan minister  and  refused  to  pay  it.  It  was  not  a 
matter  of  money  with  them.  They  at  once  raised 
£joo  with  which  they  prosecuted  an  appeal  to  the 
home  authorities,  before  whom  they  won. 

It  was  this  band  of  stiff-necked  religious  inde- 
pendents that  established  the  whale  fishery  at 
New  Bedford.  One  may  suppose  that  the  bull- 
dog persistence  of  the  Quaker  in  his  fights  for 
principle  was  at  the  foundation  of  his  success  in 
the  whale  fishery.  A  friend  of  the  sect  might  go 
farther,  perhaps,  and  say  that  while  the  standards 
of  right  and  wrong  of  those  days  differed  widely 
from  the  modern,  yet  even  then  the  Friends  chose 
whaling  rather  than  the  slave  trade,  and  coast- 
wise smuggling.  And  since  they  could  not  in 
good  conscience  sail  on  either  a  naval  ship  or  a 
privateer,  their  innate  love  of  a  good  fight  had 
to  find  vent  somewhere,  and  the  whale  fishery 
proved  the  most  exciting  resource. 

The  first  settler  .on  the  territory  now  occupied 
by  New  Bedford  was  named  Joseph  Russell. 


The  Minor  Colonial  Ports  77 

He  was  a  ship  carpenter,  as  well  as  a  farmer 
and  fisherman,  and  with  his  two  sons,  Joseph 
and  John,  got  afloat  a  number  of  vessels  that 
were  sent  whaling  offshore.  The  blubber  was 
brought  back  to  the  Russells,  who  built  try-works 
on  the  Acushnet  River.  The  business  prosper- 
ing, works  for  refining  sperm  oil  were  erected,  and 
then  (1765)  Captain  Joseph  Rotch,  a  Nantucket 
whaler  with  capital  as  well  as  experience,  joined 
the  Russells  on  the  Acushnet,  bringing  with  him 
several  whaling  vessels. 

Rotch's  reason  for  joining  the  Russells  rather 
than  locating  on  the  more  populous  Apponegan- 
sett  River  may  be  noted  here  for  future  reference. 
The  harbor  was  "deeper,  broader,  and  safer." 
Rotch  had  reason  for  paying  especial  attention 
to  the  character  of  the  harbor. 

The  glimpses  which  one  may  get  in  the  records 
of  the  early  whaling  from  Buzzard's  Bay  are  all 
of  interest.  For  instance,  a  part  of  the  log  of  the 
whaling  sloop  Betsy,,  of  Dartmouth  (the  name  of 
the  village  on  the  Apponegansett),  is  preserved 
in  Ricketson's  History  of  New  Bedford. 

"Aug.  2d,  1761,  saw  two  sperm  whales;    killed 


78     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

one. — Aug.  6th,  Spoke  with  John  Clasbery;  he 
had  got  105  barrels;  told  us  Seth  Folger  had  got 
150  barrels;  spoke  with  two  Nantucket  men; 
they  had  got  one  whale  between  them;  they 
told  us  that  Jenkins  &  Dunham  had  got  four 
whales  between  them." 

The  whale  ships  often  cruised  in  pairs,  work- 
ing as  partners.  The  vessels  were  then  small, 
and  carried  only  one  whale  boat  each.  A  single 
whale-boat  crew  could  and  did  kill  many  a  whale; 
but  with  two  whale  boats  working  together  to 
kill  a  whale,  the  chances  of  success  were  more 
than  doubled.  Moreover,  if  the  first  boat  to 
strike  a  whale  happened  to  be  crushed  by  the 
whale,  the  second  boat  would  be  at  hand  to  rescue 
the  crew.  The  crew  of  a  boat  working  alone 
had  to  wait  for  the  ship  to  come  to  the  rescue. 

There  is  no  record  of  a  crew  of  a  whale  boat 
being  lost  at  that  time  through  working  alone, 
but  there  are  tales  of  tragedies  among  the  whalers 
from  Buzzard's  Bay.  Thus  in  1764,  Jonathan 
Negers,  of  Dartmouth,  was  so  badly  hurt  when 
a  whale  struck  his  boat  that  he  died  a  few  days 
later.  No  details  of  the  event  are  given.  A 


The  Minor  Colonial  Ports  79 

more  graphic  tale  is  found  in  the  Boston  News 
Letter  of  August  18,  1766:  "Capt.  Clark  on 
Thursday  Morning  last  discovering  a  Spermaceti 
Whale  near  George's  Bank,  manned  his  boat 
and  gave  chase  to  her,  &  she  coming  up  with 
her  jaws  against  the  Bow  of  the  Boat  struck  it 
with  such  Violence  that  it  threw  a  son  of  the 
Captain,  (who  was  forward  ready  with  his  Lance), 
a  considerable  Height  from  the  Boat,  and  when  he 
fell  the  Whale  turned  with  her  devouring  Jaws 
opened,  and  caught  him.  He  was  heard  to  scream 
when  she  closed  her  Jaws,  and  part  of  his  Body 
was  seen  out  of  her  Mouth  when  she  turned  and 
went  off." 

It  appears  that  while  the  Nantucket  whalers 
were  cruising  far  to  the  south,  the  Buzzard's 
Bay  men  had  a  particular  liking  for  the  northern 
waters.  The  whaling  vessels  bound  for  the  north- 
ern grounds  were  commonly  fitted  out  for  cod- 
fishing  as  well  as  whaling, —  a  division  of  interests 
that  was  profitable  enough,  but  one  that  accounts 
for  the  superior  growth  of  the  Nantucket  whaling 
interests.  Having  the  cod-fish  as  a  resource  in 
case  of  failure  in  whaling,  the  ships  with  two  out- 


8o     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

fits  were  not  likely  to  be  as  eager  in  the  chase 
of  a  whale  as  those  that  had  to  get  whales  or 
nothing. 

In  1765  the  northern  whalers  ran  foul  of  the 
authorities  appointed  by  the  Crown  for  the  govern- 
ment of  Newfoundland  and  the  Labrador  coast. 
A  company  had  been  chartered  in  London  to 
carry  on  whaling,  cod-fishing,  and  trading  with  the 
Indians  on  the  coasts  of  Labrador.  At  the  insti- 
gation of  this  company,  Governor  Hugh  Palliser, 
of  Newfoundland,  issued  a  set  of  rules  for  the 
conduct  of  the  colonial  vessels  coming  to  the 
coast.  They  were  not  "to  fish  for  any  other 
than  Whales  on  this  coast."  When  a  whale 
was  stripped  of  its  blubber,  the  captors  were  to 
tow  the  "lean"  at  least  three  leagues  out  to  sea 
because,  as  it  was  believed,  the  floating  of  a  car- 
cass alongshore  drove  away  the  cod.  All  fishing 
on  the  Newfoundland  coasts  was  prohibited, 
and  the  trade  with  the  Indians  was  restricted. 

To  enforce  the  obnoxious  rules  the  sloop-of- 
war  Zephyr,  Captain  John  Hamilton,  was  sent 
cruising  alongshore.  She  boarded  the  colonial 
vessels  she  met  and  confiscated  their  catch  of 


The  Minor  Colonial  Ports  81 

cod-fish,  thus  ruining  their  voyages.  Worse  yet, 
in  the  view  of  these  sturdy  colonials,  was  the 
haughty  and  insolent  bearing  of  the  Zephyr's 
captain.  Furthermore,  two  vessels  that  had  been 
fitted  out  by  the  London  company  joined  the 
sloop-of-war  in  her  raid,  and  profited  much  by 
robbing  the  fishermen  of  their  hard-earned  fares. 
On  an  appeal  to  the  king  he  sustained  the  rights 
of  the  colonists  to  fish  and  trade  on  those  coasts, 
but  Governor  Palliser  was  still  able  to  forward 
the  interests  of  the  London  people.  Another 
proclamation  was  issued  in  which  it  was  declared 
that  the  cruisers  on  the  coast  were  to  afford  every 
protection  and  encouragement  to  the  colonial 
fishermen.  At  the  same  time,  however,  the 
colonial  ships  were  to  be  "under  certain  necessary 
Restrictions."  Thus  they  were  not  to  land  to 
cut  up  whales  and  save  the  oil.  To  justify  still 
further  interference  with  the  colonials  it  was 
asserted  that  they  were  in  the  habit  of  "plunder- 
ing whoever  they  find  on  the  coast  too  weak  to 
resist  them;  obstructing  our  Ship  Adventurers 
from  Britain,  .  .  .  destroying  their  fishing  works 
on  shore,  stealing  their  boats,  Tackle  and  Utensils, 


82     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  hunting  for  and  plundering,  taking  away 
or  murdering  the  poor  Indian  Natives  of  the 
country."  Because  of  "these  Barbarities,  and 
other  Notorious  Crimes  and  Enormities"  the 
cruisers  were  "to  apprehend  all  such  offenders" 
and  to  "bring  them  to  me  to  be  tried  for  the 
same." 

As  the  Governor  was  at  once  prosecutor,  judge, 
and  jury,  many  of  the  colonial  whalers  were 
driven  from  the  coast  to  deep-water  fishing. 
It  was  an  event  that  was  not  without  influence 
upon  the  Revolution  that  was  then  at  hand. 

Nevertheless,  further  petitions  brought  a  real 
modification  of  the  rule,  and  in  1768  eighty 
whalers  from  Nantucket,  and  as  many  from  the 
other  ports,  went  to  the  northern  grounds.  This 
proved  a  notable  year  for  natural  disasters.  Ten 
of  the  Nantucket  ships  were  lost  and  the  fleet 
from  other  ports  suffered  as  badly.  Captain 
Hamilton,  who,  during  this  year,  was  in  the 
Merlin  sloop-of-war,  saved  two  Nantucket  crews. 
The  catch  of  the  survivors  ran  from  100  to  200 
barrels  of  oil. 

To  complete  the  record  of  the  whalers  in  the 


The  Minor  Colonial   Ports 


days  before  the  Revolution  it  is  necessary  only 
to  quote  from  a  report,  dated  February  2,  1791, 
which  Thomas  Jefferson,  Secretary  of  State, 
made  to  the  House  of  Representatives  regarding 
the  whale  and  cod  fisheries.  A  table  in  this 
report  shows  the  "State  of  the  Whale  Fishery 
in  Massachusetts  from  1771  to  1775."  It  is  the 
only  statistical  record  of  the  fishery  for  that 
period,  and  it  is  as  follows : 


n 

~L 

* 

•*!  £ 

|l£ 

Barrels 

Ports  from    which  the 

|j|j 

Their 

||| 

Their 

Seamen 
em- 

of  sper- 
maceti 

If 

equipments  were  made. 

ji£~i 

tonnage. 

tonnage. 

ploy- 

oil taken 

s^|| 

ed. 

annu- 

111 

If] 

ally. 

11 

Nantucket 

65 

4,875 

85 

IO,2OO 

2,025 

26,000 

4,000 

Wellfleet 

20 

1,  600 

10 

1,000 

420 

2,250 

2,250 

Dartmouth 

60 

4,500 

20 

2,000 

1,040 

7,200 

1,400 

Lynn           [yard, 

I 

75 

I 

120 

28 

2OO 

100 

Martha's      Vine- 

12 

720 

156 

900 

300 

Barnstable 

2 

'5° 

26 

240 

Boston 

15 

1,300 

5 

700 

260 

1,  800 

600 

Falmouth,    Barn- 

stable  County 

4 

300 

52 

400 

Swanzey 

4 

300 

52 

400 

Total 

183 

13,820 

121 

I4,O2O 

4,059 

39,39° 

8,650 

From  this  it  appears  that  Massachusetts  owned 
304  whalers.     Crews   numbered    from    13   to    14 


84     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

for  each  ship,  and  in  the  aggregate  4059  men 
were  employed.  The  right  whales  gave  ten 
pounds  of  bone  for  each  barrel  of  oil.  One- 
fourth  of  the  oil  of  the  sperm  whales  came  from 
the  head.  This  sold  for  $150  a  ton,  or  $18.75 
a  barrel.  Plain  sperm  oil  sold  for  $100  a  ton 
and  right  whale  oil,  which  was  darker  and  of 
a  rank  odor,  brought  $50.  Whalebone  sold 
for  15  cents  a  pound.  The  number  of  ships 
in  the  whale  business  that  were  owned  outside 
of  Massachusetts  in  the  year  1775  was  between 
50  and  60.  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut 
owned  most  of  them.  The  average  size  of  a 
whaler  of  those  days  was  90  tons.  They  would 
be  called  small  smacks  in  these  days,  but  they 
braved  the  fiercest  hurricanes  of  the  seas,  and 
those  that  were  well  handled  often  paid  for  them- 
selves in  the  first  voyage,  leaving  all  subsequent 
catches  as  clear  gains. 


NANTUCKET  IN  THE  WAR  OF  THE 
REVOLUTION 

WHEN,  with  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
at  hand,  the  Americans  began  arming 
themselves,  and  the  British  authorities 
were  considering  plans  for  coercing  them,  a 
committee  of  the  House  of  Parliament  was  di- 
rected to  consider  the  condition  of  affairs  among 
the  people  of  Nantucket.  The  facts  related 
before  this  committee  proved  so  interesting  to 
the  British  public  that  Dodsley's  Annual  Reg- 
ister of  London  (1775)  printed  a  resume  of  the 
testimony  from  which  the  following  paragraph  is 
taken : 

"The  case  of  the  inhabitants  was  particularly 
hard.  This  extraordinary  people,  amounting  to 
between  five  and  six  thousand  in  number,  nine- 
tenths  of  whom  are  Quakers,  inhabit  a  barren 
island,  fifteen  miles  long  by  three  broad,  the 
85 


86     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

products  of  which  are  scarcely  capable  of  main- 
taining twenty  families.  From  the  only  harbor 
which  this  sterile  island  contains,  without  natural 
products  of  any  sort,  the  inhabitants,  by  an  as- 
tonishing industry,  keep  140  vessels  in  constant 
employment.  Of  these  eight  are  employed  in 
the  importation  of  provisions  for  the  island, 
and  the  rest  in  the  whale  fishery;  which  with 
an  invincible  perseverance  and  courage,  they 
have  extended  from  the  frozen  regions  of  the 
Pole  to  the  coasts  of  Africa,  to  the  Brazils,  and 
even  to  the  Falkland  Islands;  some  of  those 
fishing  voyages  continuing  for  twelve  months." 

Here  was  an  island  thirty  miles  offshore  that 
was  dependent  on  the  mainland  for  its  daily 
bread,  and  yet  there  was  not  a  gun  mounted, 
nor  was  there  any  other  means  of  making  a  de- 
fence if  the  enemy  should  come.  And  if  a  block- 
ade were  established,  starvation  or  submission  was 
inevitable. 

As  the  reader  will  remember,  Parliament  was 
considering  a  bill  "to  starve  New  England"  into 
subjection  by  "  restricting  colonial  trade  to  British 
ports"  and  placing  an  embargo  "on  all  fishing 


Nantucket  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution     87 

along  the  American  coasts."  The  Quakers  of 
England  interceded  in  behalf  of  their  Nantucket 
brethren;  but  the  bill  passed  215  to  61,  and  war 
became  inevitable.  The  people  of  Nantucket 
had  kept  in  touch  with  the  political  movements 
of  the  day,  of  course,  and  yet  they  were  by  no 
means  prepared  for  war  when  it  came.  Their 
ships  were  out  cruising  for  whales  as  usual,  and 
their  coasting  vessels  were  plying  to  and  fro, 
carrying  oil  to  Boston  and  bringing  food  and 
other  supplies  to  the  island.  The  coasters  were 
easily  provided  for,  when  war  came;  but  the 
sound  of  the  shot  that  was  fired  at  Lexington, 
and  was  "heard  around  the  world,"  was  a  long 
time  reaching  many  of  the  whalers.  In  some 
cases,  British  cruisers  took  the  echo  to  them  — 
with  a  summons  to  surrender  that  was  not  to  be 
disobeyed.  Those  that  escaped  this  misfortune 
hastened  home  as  soon  as  they  learned  that  war 
had  been  declared. 

The  story  of  the  Nantucket  whalemen  during 
the  years  of  war  is  tragic.  The  ships  that  reached 
home  were  no  safer  than  they  were  on  the  high 
seas;  they  were  not  as  safe,  in  fact.  The  British 


88     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

having  a  great  navy  were  able  to  blockade  the 
American  coast  and  raid  the  American  ports  as 
well  as  scour  the  high  seas.  They  burned  ships 
at  the  wharf  (fourteen  at  the  first  dash),  and 
storehouses  upon  the  land  at  Nantucket.  The 
people  of  the  little  island  were  at  the  mercy  of 
the  invader,  but  they  fitted  out  such  vessels  as 
escaped  the  invader  and  went  to  sea  again  and 
again  in  pursuit  of  whales  until  the  fleet  was  almost 
entirely  wiped  out. 

A  number  of  the  inhabitants  migrated  to  the 
mainland,  most  of  them  naturally  settling  in 
ports  of  the  mainland.  Some  of  those  who 
remained,  preferring  their  island  home  to  any 
other  as  long  as  they  could  live  upon  it,  went  afloat 
in  rowboats  to  search  for  whales  in  the  early 
fashion.  Others  manned  blockade-running  boats 
(the  enemy  did  not  occupy  the  island  all  of  the 
time,  but  had  cruisers  near  it  much  of  the  time) 
and  carried  on  a  traffic  with  and  between  the 
ports  of  the  mainland.  One  reads  in  the  histories 
of  many  venturesome  deeds  done  by  whale-boat 
men  during  the  Revolution. 

Meantime,    to    quote    the    words    of  Weeden, 


Nantucket  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution    89 

some  of  the  Nantucket  men  "occupied  them- 
selves in  the  common  and  inferior  work  of  catch- 
ing cod  and  mackerel  in  the  nearer  waters.  The 
scarcity  and  high  prices  of  salt  took  away  the 
profit  here.  They  tried  making  salt  from  the 
Atlantic  sea  water,  but  the  fogs  around  their 
island  gave  them  a  too  infrequent  sunlight.  As 
the  war  developed,  West  India  produce  became 
dear,  and  the  whalemen  engaged  in  this  com- 
merce." 

The  fact  that  Nantucket  men  thought  the 
fishing  for  cod  and  mackerel  common  and  in- 
ferior work  and  the  West  India  trade  something 
worth  consideration  only  when  war  had  brought 
them  to  the  verge  of  starvation,  is  illuminating. 

A  graphic  scene  in  Moby  Dick  is  that  where 
Captain  Ahab  calls  all  hands  aft  and  questions 
them  as  to  their  duty  when  a  whale  is  seen.  They 
reply  that,  first  of  all,  they  are  to  "sing  out,"  and 
then  at  the  word  they  are  to  "lower  away." 

"And  what  tune  do  you  pull  to  ?"  asked  the  captain, 
and  they  replied  with  a  shout,  "A  dead  whale  or  a  stove 
boat!" 

Men  who  had  pulled  to  that  tune  took  kindly 


go     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

to  war,  once  they  were  afloat  in  an  armed  ship. 
Many  Nantucket  men  shipped  in  the  patriot 
navy.  Buell's  John  Paul  Jones  says  that  twenty- 
five  Nantucket  men  were  on  the  Ranger  when 
she  left  Portsmouth.  The  privateers,  however, 
were  favored  most  of  all.  There  is  abundant 
reason  for  saying  that  out  of  the  1700  men  who 
had  manned  Nantucket  whalers  before  the  war, 
some  hundreds  shipped  on  the  privateers.  They 
took  kindly  to  a  calling  in  which  there  was  such 
a  strong  element  of  chance.  The  hope  of  good 
luck  was  strong  within  them,  and  not  without 
reason.  For  in  the  preceding  war  with  France 
one  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  privateer,  Captain 
Abraham  Whipple,  had  captured  no  less  than 
twenty-three  prizes  valued  at  a  million  of  dollars. 
The  Nantucket  men  firmly  believed  and  often 
said,  "What  man  has  done  man  can  do." 

In  due  time  the  British  cruisers  began  to  gather 
in  the  ill-armed,  under-manned,  venturesome  pri- 
vateers. Some  were  captured  by  armed  British 
merchantmen,  for  dozens  of  the  Yankee  pri- 
vateers went  to  sea  when  armed  with  only  one 
cannon,  and  a  four-pounder  at  that.  In  fact, 


Nantucket  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution     91 

while  our  histories  of  privateering  make  boast 
of  the  number  of  ships  captured  from  the  enemy, 
they  omit  mention  of  the  number  the  enemy 
took  from  us.  By  a  return  made  in  1778  in  Par- 
liament it  appears  that  while  American  cruisers 
had  taken  733  British  ships,  the  British  had 
captured  904  American  ships. 

It  is  a  most  interesting  fact  that  whenever  an 
American  ship  was  captured  by  British  cruisers, 
the  crew  were  at  once  interrogated  to  learn  where 
each  man  hailed  from.  A  list  was  then  made 
of  all  Nantucket  men  found  on  board,  and  these, 
when  they  had  arrived  in  England,  were  offered 
good  wages  as  well  as  liberty,  provided  they 
would  ship  on  British  whalers.  Naturally  some 
accepted  the  offer.  When,  however,  not  enough 
whalers  were  thus  secured,  the  obdurate  Nantucket 
men  were  fed  on  food  of  such  poor  quality  and 
so  scant  in  quantity  that  they  felt  obliged  to  eat 
snails  and  rats  found  in  the  prison  to  keep  soul 
and  body  together.  In  time,  these  methods 
of  persuasion  having  failed,  the  Nantucket  men 
were  taken  from  prison  and  compelled  to  choose 
whether  they  would  go  whaling  or  ship  on  a 


92     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

British  man-o'-war  and  serve  under  the  claws 
of  the  cat. 

The  British  government  had  determined  to 
establish  a  British  whale  fishery.  As  few  British 
subjects  knew  anything  about  whale  fishing,  and 
because  Nantucket  men  knew  all  about  it,  the 
authorities  tried  to  compel  the  captured  whalers 
to  man  the  ships  destined  for  this  fishery,  and 
not  only  secure  the  bone  and  oil  wanted  in  the 
market,  but  at  the  same  time  build  up  a  whale- 
fishing  population  at  some  port  in  England.  To 
encourage  the  owners  of  British  ships  fitted  for 
this  fishery,  the  government  granted  each  ship  a 
bounty  of  from  £500  to  £1000. 

In  a  communication  from  the  American  com- 
missioners in  France  (Franklin  and  John  Adams), 
dated  October  30,  1778,  to  M.  de  Sartine,  is  the 
following : 

"The  English  last  year  carried  on  a  very  valu- 
able whale  fishery  on  the  coast  of  Brazil  and  off 
the  River  Plate  .  .  .  just  on  the  edge  of  sound- 
ings, off  and  on.  .  .  .  They  have  this  year  about 
seventeen  vessels  in  this  fishery  which  have  all 
sailed  in  the  months  of  September  and  October. 


Nantucket  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution     93 

All  the  officers  and  almost  all  the  men  belonging 
to  these  seventeen  vessels  are  Americans  from 
Nantucket  and  Cape  Cod  in  Massachusetts, 
excepting  two  or  three  from  Rhode  Island  and  per- 
haps one  from  Long  Island." 

A  list  of  twenty  American  captains  of  British 
whalers,  as  obtained  from  the  officers  of  three  of 
the  whalers  that  had  been  captured  by  French 
cruisers,  was  added  to  the  communication.  Six- 
teen of  the  twenty  were  from  Nantucket. 

The  commissioners  suggested  the  sending  of  a 
French  frigate  to  the  Brazil  coast  to  gather  in 
that  whaling  fleet.  Adams  wrote  home  urging 
that  an  American  frigate  or  sloop  be  sent  to  the 
same  coast.  In  this  letter  he  said: 

"Whenever  an  English  man-o'-war  or  privateer 
has  taken  an  American  vessel,  they  have  given 
the  whalemen  among  the  crew,  by  order  of  gov- 
ernment, their  choice  either  to  go  on  board  a 
man-of-war  and  fight  against  their  country,  or  go 
into  the  whale  fisheries.  Such  numbers  have 
chosen  the  latter  as  have  made  up  the  crews  of 
these  seventeen  vessels." 

There  is  no  record  of  any  attack  upon  this 
British  fishery. 


94     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

In  time  the  British,  occupying  Newport  and 
New  York,  sent  out  privateers  that  broke  up  the 
despised  cod  and  mackerel  fishing  of  the  Nan- 
tucket  men,  and  drove  the  West  India  traders 
into  narrow  waters.  In  this  desperate  situation, 
in  fact,  to  avert  actual  starvation,  an  effort  was 
made  to  secure  from  the  British  authorities  per- 
mits to  go  whaling.  Timothy  Folger  and  William 
Rotch  were  sent  as  envoys  from  the  island  to  New 
York  to  negotiate  for  permits  to  set  afloat  twenty 
open  boats  for  alongshore  fishing,  four  deep- 
water  whale  ships,  and  ten  small  coasters  to  serve 
as  packets  for  carrying  food  and  fuel  from  the 
mainland.  In  1781  Admiral  Digby,  commanding 
at  New  York,  being  moved  by  the  statements  of 
these  envoys,  issued  permits  for  twenty-four  whale 
ships  to  go  to  sea.1 

1  The  following  is  a  copy  of  one  of  the  permits  taken  from 
Starbuck : 

"L.S.     By  Robert   Digby,  Esquire,  Rear  Admiral  of  the  Red, 
and  commander-in-chief,  &c.,  &c. 

"Permission  is  hereby  given  to  the  brig  Dolphin,  burthen 
sixty  tons,  Walter  Folger,  owner,  navigated  by  Gilbert  Folger 
as  master  and  the  twelve  seamen  named  in  the  margin,  to  leave 
the  island  of  Nantucket  and  to  proceed  on  a  whaling  voyage, 
—  to  commence  the  first  of  January,  1782,  and  end  the  last 


Nantucket  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution    95 

Of  seventeen  vessels  that  were  fitted  out  during 
1781  under  permits  of  this  kind,  two  were  carried 
as  prizes  to  New  York  and  one  was  burned  in 
spite  of  the  permits.  The  others  made  good  voy- 
ages, and,  in  consequence,  twenty-four  were  fitted 
out  in  1782.  Of  these  one  was  taken  to  New 
York  in  spite  of  her  permit,  and  two  were  carried 
to  Salem  and  Boston  because  of  the  permits. 
The  New  England  privateersmen  had  learned 
about  the  Nantucket  people  having  British  per- 
mits, and,  in  spite  of  the  well-known  condition  of 
the  islanders,  went  cruising  after  the  twenty-four 
whalers.  The  courts  in  Massachusetts  released 

day  of — following,  provided  that  they  have  on  board  the 
necessary  whaling  craft  and  provisions  only,  and  that  the 
master  of  said  brig  is  possessed  of  a  certificate  from  the  select- 
men of  the  said  island,  setting  forth  that  she  is  bone  fide  the 
property  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  island,  with  the  names  of 
the  master  and  seamen  in  her;  and  that  she  shall  not  be  found 
proceeding  with  her  cargo  to  any  other  port  than  Nantucket 
or  New  York. 

"ROBERT  DIGBY. 

"Dated  at  New  York  the  first  day  of  December,  1781. 
"To  the  commanders  of  his  majesty's  ships  and  vessels  of 
war,  as  well  as  all  privateers  and  letters  of  marque. 
"By  command  of  the  admiral. 

"THOMAS  M.  PALMER." 


96     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  two  thus  taken,  on  the  grounds  of  humanity, 
but  their  voyages  had  been  ruined  and  they  had 
no  redress. 

Finally  (March  22,  1783)  the  "draft  of  a  pass- 
port" for  the  use  of  Nantucket  whalers  was  re- 
ported to  the  American  Congress  and  "agreed 
to"  in  such  shape  that  the  inhabitants  were  to  be 
permitted  to  go  whaling  with  British  permits  as 
well.  The  war,  however,  was  now  about  at  an 
end,  and  the  measure  had  little  effect  upon  the 
fortunes  of  the  whalers. 

To  sum  up  the  disasters  that  befell  the  people 
of  Nantucket  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
it  appears  that  out  of  a  fleet  that  numbered  150 
vessels  of  all  kinds,  owned  in  the  island  before 
the  war  began,  no  less  than  134  were  captured 
by  the  enemy,  while  fifteen  others  were  wrecked. 
So  much  for  the  property  losses.  Of  the  800 
families  that  were  yet  on  the  island  at  the  end 
of  the  war,  no  less  than  202  were  the  families  of 
widows  who  had  342  children.  With  few  excep- 
tions the  men  of  those  families  had  lost  their  lives 
in  fighting  for  their  country.  Over  1200  Nan- 
tucket men  were  killed  or  captured  in  the  course 
of  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 


VI 
A   LONG    PERIOD   OF   DEPRESSION 

THE  Nantucket  whaler  of  widest  repute  at 
the  end  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
was  William  Rotch.  Manifestly  he  was 
a  sincere  Quaker  and  a  typical  whaleman  of  his 
day,  for  he  would  take  no  part  in  the  fighting, 
and  he  would  not  let  anything,  not  even  repeated 
and  enormous  losses,  interfere  with  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  business  enterprises.  Thus,  as  noted, 
he  was  one  of  the  men  who  went  to  New  York 
to  secure  fishing  permits  from  the  British  admiral. 
With  Samuel  Starbuck  he  went  to  Philadelphia 
to  intercede  with  the  American  Congress  for 
licenses  to  send  ships  to  sea  with  British  permits 
also  on  board,  and  he  succeeded  in  that  design. 
And  when  the  Massachusetts  privateers  took  a 
couple  of  whale  ships  into  port  for  sailing  under 
British  licenses,  he  was  one  of  the  committee  sent 
from  Nantucket  to  argue  before  the  court  at 
Boston  for  the  release  of  the  captured  vessels. 
H  97 


98     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Further  than  that,  although  his  losses  amounted 
to  more  than  $60,000  during  the  war,  he  built 
ships  to  replace  those  taken  by  the  enemy,  and 
he  kept  them  cruising  for  whales.  For  perse- 
verance under  adverse  circumstances,  there  was 
no  man  more  noted  in  the  annals  of  the  whale 
fishery  than  Rotch. 

As  it  happened,  one  of  the  ships  of  William 
Rotch  returned  to  port  just  at  the  time,  at  the 
end  of  the  war,  when  it  became  safe  to  send  a 
cargo  to  Europe.  She  was  at  once  ordered  with 
oil  to  London.  The  appearance  of  a  ship  flying 
the  American  flag  in  that  port  created  a  decided 
sensation.  Said  a  periodical  of  the  day : 

"The  ship  Bedford,  Captain  Mooers,  belonging  to 
Massachusetts,  arrived  in  the  Downs  the  3d  of  Febru- 
ary, &  was  reported  at  the  Custom-House  the  6th  in- 
stant. She  was  not  allowed  regular  entry  until  some 
consultation  had  taken  place  between  the  commissioners 
of  the  customs  &  the  lo.ds  of  council,  on  account  of 
the  many  acts  of  parliament  yet  in  force  against  the 
rebels  in  America.  She  is  loaded  with  487  butts  of 
whale  oil;  is  American  built;  manned  wholly  by  Ameri- 
can seamen;  wears  the  rebel  colors  &  belongs  to  the 
island  of  Nantucket  in  Massachusetts.  This  is  the 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  99 

V 

first  vessel  that  displayed  the  thirteen  rebellious  stripes 
of  America  in  any  British  port."  1 

Another  Nantucket  ship,  the  Industry,  Captain 
John  Chadwick,  arrived  a  few  days  after  the 
Bedford.  Both  ships  sold  their  cargoes  to  ad- 
vantage. 

The  appearance  of  these  two  ships  with  Ameri- 
can whale  oil  thus  promptly  after  the  end  of 
hostilities,  however,  prepared  the  way  for  what 
seemed  at  the  time  the  death-blow  to  the  Ameri- 
can whale  fishery. 

The  British  ship  owners,  who  had  been  extend- 
ing their  fishery  by  the  aid  of  Yankee  whalemen 
captured  during  the  war,  protested  against  further 
importations  of  "rebel"  oil,  and  a  duty  of  £iS  a 
ton  was  immediately  laid  upon  all  foreign  oil. 
As  the  other  European  nations  were  also  striving 
to  foster  their  whale  fisheries  by  means  of  pro- 
tective duties,  the  American  whalers  were  thrown 
back  on  their  own  home  market. 

1  It  is  said  (Starbuck)  that  one  of  the  Bedford's  sailors  was    x 
humpbacked.     One  day  while  he  was  ashore  one  of  the  natives 
overhauled  him,  and,  laying  a  hand  on  his  back,  said,  "Hello, 
Jack,  what  have  you  got  here  ?"  —  "Bunker  Hill  and  be  d — d 
to  you,"  replied  the  Yankee. 


ioo     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

As  already  noted,  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
together  with  unusual  misfortunes  in  storms, 
had  destroyed  149  out  of  150  ships  that  were 
owned  at  Nantucket  before  the  war  began.  The 
Buzzard's  Bay  and  other  whaling  fleets  had  suf- 
fered almost  as  severely.  The  American  people 
had  waged  a  defensive  war,  for  the  enemy  had 
come  to  the  American  coasts  to  do  the  fighting, 
and  the  raids  alongshore  that  were  thus  made 
inevitable  had  wiped  out  ships,  warehouses,  the 
outfits  stored  therein,  and  the  try-works.  To  add 
to  the  other  misfortunes  of  the  whalers,  the  market 
for  whale  products  was  almost  ruined.  Having 
no  whale  oil,  the  people  of  America  had  turned 
to  substitutes,  such  as  tallow  candles.  Even  the 
lighthouses  were  in  some  cases  compelled  to  use 
substitutes.  It  is  likely  that  no  other  industry  of 
the  country  suffered  as  much  through  the  war 
as  that  of  the  whalers. 

When  the  European  market  was  closed  to  them 
the  American  whalemen  found  their  oil,  which 
cost  them  not  far  from  $120  a  ton  to  secure, 
selling  for  $85.  Thereupon  the  Nantucket  men 
applied  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature  for  a 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  101 

bounty  to  save  the  fishery  from  extinction.  The 
legislature  granted  £5  a  ton  on  white  sperm  oil, 
£3  on  yellow  sperm,  and  £2  on  whale  oil  "that 
may  be  taken  or  caught"  by  vessels  "owned  and 
manned  wholly  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  Com- 
monwealth." 

The  whalemen  promptly  fitted  out  their  ships 
then,  and  brought  home  so  much  oil  that  the 
burden  of  the  bounty  became  too  great,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  market  was  depressed  so  far 
that  the  ships  were  worse  off  than  they  had  been 
before  the  bounty  was  given  them. 

As  early  as  1764,  while  yet  the  whalemen  were 
subjects  of  Great  Britain,  the  British  authorities 
had  contemplated  establishing  a  whale  fishery  at 
Halifax  or  Quebec,  but  had  been  unable  to  in- 
duce the  whalemen  to  migrate.  They  said  that 
Quebec  was  not  a  suitable  location;  it  was  too 
far  from  the  sperm  grounds.  As  for  Halifax,  it 
had  a  military  government,  something  heartily 
detested  by  all  Americans,  and  what  was  of  more 
importance,  they  had  "so  invincible  an  aversion 
to  the  loose  habits  and  manners  of  the  people, 
that  nothing  could  induce  them  to  remove  thitherp 


IO2     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

even  supposing  them  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
emigration."  * 

When,  after  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  the 
one  industry  of  Nantucket  became  depressed  to 
a  point  where  even  such  thrift  as  that  of  these 
islanders  was  not  able  to  make  a  whale  ship  profit- 
able, some  of  the  inhabitants  remembered  the 
British  attempts  to  establish  whaling  communities, 
and  began  to  look  abroad  for  opportunities  that 
seemed  to  be  denied  them  at  home.  With  Eng- 
land and  France  paying  bounties  to  their  whale- 
men, these  Nantucket  men  thought  they  might 
do  better  to  migrate  to  Europe.  Chief  among 
those  who  thus  determined  to  abandon  their  old 
home  was  William  Rotch.  Leaving  the  island 

1  It  is  related  that  a  young  whaleman  named  Greene,  mate 
of  a  Nantucket  whale  ship  that  had  put  into  Halifax,  had  the 
audacity  to  interfere  for  the  protection  of  a  girl  to  whom  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  admiral  of  the  British  fleet,  was  giving  un- 
welcome attention,  and  when  nothing  else  would  protect  the  girl 
he  took  the  officer  by  the  coat  collar  and  the  seat  of  the  trousers 
and  threw  him  down  a  flight  of  stairs.  The  admiral  (he  was 
afterward  William  IV  of  England),  on  picking  himself  up, 
sent  for  the  young  whaler,  intending  to  offer  him  a  commission 
in  the  Royal  Navy,  but  Greene  had  gone  on  board  ship  and 
would  answer  no  summons  from  any  naval  man. 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  103 

on  July  4,  1785,  with  the  ship  Maria,  he  went  to 
London  and  applied  to  William  Pitt,  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  for  aid  in  transferring  the 
whalers  of  Nantucket  to  some  port  in  England. 

Pitt  allowed  Rotch  to  wait  in  idleness  for  four 
months  and  then  appointed  Lord  Hawksbury, 
"a  gentleman  not  very  favorably  disposed  toward 
America,"  to  consider  the  matter.  Captain  Rotch 
asked  Hawksbury  for  £100  sterling  transporta- 
tion for  a  family  of  five  persons,  and  £100  settle- 
ment. 

"And  what  do  you  propose  to  give  us  for  this 
outlay  of  money?"  said  Hawksbury. 

"  I  will  give  you  some  of  the  best  blood  of  the 
island  of  Nantucket,"  replied  Rotch.  He  added 
that  100  families  would  take  advantage  of  such 
an  opportunity  to  emigrate.  Hawksbury  calcu- 
lated that  a  family  could  be  transferred  for  £87 
ios.,  and  he  offered  that  sum.  Captain  Rotch 
arose  to  leave,  saying,  "Thy  offer  is  no  object." 

"Well,  Mr.  Rotch,  you  will  call  on  me  again 
in  two  or  three  days,"  said  Hawksbury. 

"I  see  no  necessity  for  it,"  replied  the  captain, 
and  away  he  went.  The  next  day  Hawksbury 


IO4     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

sent  for  him,  and  they  "had  the  old  story  over 
again."  Rotch  told  Hawksbury  that  a  rumor 
was  current  to  the  effect  that  France  had  agreed 
to  admit  oil  from  Nantucket. 

"  If  there  is  any  such  contract  sufficient  to  retain 
us  at  Nantucket,  neither  you  nor  any  other  nation 
shall  have  us,"  said  he.  "And  if  it  is  insufficient, 
I  will  endeavor  to  enlarge  it." 

"Ah,  Quakers  go  to  France?"  said  Hawks- 
bury. 

"Yes,  but  with  regret,"  replied  the  captain. 
Thereupon  he  went  to  France.  Hawksbury  then 
became  suddenly  anxious  to  secure  the  whalers 
and  wrote  to  Rotch,  offering  to  give  all  the  money 
asked,  and  to  allow  the  whalers  to  bring  in  forty 
of  their  ships;  but  Rotch  refused  to  have  anything 
more  to  do  with  him.  In  Paris  Rotch  found  a 
kindly  reception. 

"I  had  a  separate  interview  with  all  the  ministers 
of  state  necessary  to  the  subject,  five  in  number," 
wrote  Rotch  (the  quotations  are  from  a  Rotch 
manuscript  first  published  by  Starbuck),  "who 
all  agreed  to  and  granted  my  demands.  This 
was  effected  in  five  hours/' 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  105 

The  concessions  thus  secured  allowed  the  Nan- 
tucket  whalers  to  have  "an  entire  free  exercise 
of  their  religion";  a  tract  of  land  for  homes, 
storehouses,  and  a  dry-dock;  the  importation  of 
all  whaling  products  and  of  food  supplies  free  of 
duty;  all  bounties  and  other  privileges  allowed 
to  native  fishermen ;  an  additional  premium  per 
ton  on  the  burden  of  their  vessels  engaged  in  the 
whale  fishery;  liberty  to  command  their  own 
ships  and  select  their  own  crews;  freedom  from 
military  duty  in  time  of  war  as  well  as  peace.  An 
additional  duty  was  to  be  laid  on  all  oil  that 
might  thereafter  be  brought  from  foreign  nations. 

According  to  Jefferson's  Report,  "Nine  families 
only  of  thirty-three  persons  accepted  this  invi- 
tation" from  France.  Rotch  was  among  the 
number. 

In  the  meantime  the  British  authorities  had  been 
negotiating  directly  with  Nantucket  to  induce 
some  of  the  whalers  to  go  to  Nova  Scotia,  and 
with  so  much  success  that  a  ship  was  sent  to  carry 
away  the  emigrants.  While  the  ship  lay  at  the 
wharf,  however,  a  letter  was  received  from  La- 
fayette, asking  the  people  not  to  move  until  they 


IO6     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

should  hear  further  from  France.  This  letter  had 
so  much  influence  that  only  two  families  went 
away  in  the  British  ship. 

The  publication  of  Jefferson's  Report,  however, 
while  the  facts  are  as  stated,  has  created  a  wrong 
impression  as  to  the  condition  of  affairs  on  Nan- 
tucket  during  that  period.  For,  while  only  the 
few  left  at  the  times  mentioned,  a  considerable 
number  of  whalers  went  to  Nova  Scotia  later 
and  established  themselves  at  a  settlement  on 
Halifax  Bay,  which  they  named  Dartmouth,  —  a 
fact  that  indicated  the  presence  of  a  number  of 
Buzzard's  Bay  whalers  in  the  community.  Others 
went  to  Milford  Haven,  England.  A  Catalogue 
of  Nantucket  Whalers,  issued  by  Hussey  and  Rob- 
inson of  Nantucket,  in  1876,  gives  a  list  of  149 
Nantucket  captains  who  commanded  British  whale 
ships  "prior  to  1812."  It  is  certain  that  many 
of  the  mates  and  harpooners,  and  some  of  the 
seamen  on  these  ships,  were  also  Nantucket  men; 
for  when  Commodore  Porter,  in  the  American 
frigate  Essex,  destroyed  the  British  whale  fishery 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  he  found  several  of  the  crews 
so  made  up.  The  Nantucket  captains  of  French 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  107 

whalers  numbered  81  at  the  same  period.  Both 
England  and  France  got  some  of  what  Captain 
Rotch  called  "the  best  blood  of  Nantucket. " 

To  complete  the  story  of  Captain  Rotch,  it 
appears  from  manuscripts  quoted  by  Starbuck  that 
he  had  to  return  to  America  eventually.  He  wrote : 

"In  the  beginning  of  1793  I  became  fully  aware 
that  war  between  England  and  France  would  soon 
take  place,  therefore  it  was  time  for  me  to  leave 
the  Country  in  order  to  save  our  vessels  if  cap- 
tured by  the  English.  I  proceeded  to  England. 
Two  of  them  were  captured,  full  of  oil,  and  con- 
demned, but  we  recovered  both  by  my  being  in 
England,  where  I  arrived  two  weeks  before  the 
war  took  place.  My  going  to  France  to  pursue 
the  whale  fishery  so  disappointed  Lord  Hawksbury 
that  he  undertook  to  be  revenged  on  me  for  his 
own  folly,  and  I  have  no  doubt  gave  directions  to 
the  cruisers  to  take  any  of  our  vessels  that  they 
met  with  going  to  France.  When  the  Osprey  was 
taken  by  a  King's  ship  the  officer  sent  on  board  to 
examine  the  papers  called  to  the  captain  &  said, 
'You'll  take  this  vessel  in,  sir;  she  belongs  to 
William  Rotch.'" 


io8     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Rotch  had  lived  eight  years  in  France.  He 
remained  only  one  year  in  England.  He  then 
returned  to  Nantucket,  but  found  a  welcome  that 
did  not  please  him,  and  a  year  later  he  moved  to 
New  Bedford,  where  he  died  in  1828.  It  appears, 
however,  that  members  of  this  family  continued 
to  reside  in  France,  and  to  maintain  a  whaling 
fleet  there  until  1855.  Other  vessels  belonging 
to  the  Rotches  were  sailed  out  of  England  for  a 
long  time  after  William  Rotch  returned  to  America. 

The  fact  that  Rotch  was  not  heartily  welcomed 
in  Nantucket  is  interesting.  The  people  of  Nan- 
tucket  as  a  whole  loved  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  as 
the  emblem  of  a  nation ;  they  had  a  pride  in  their 
skill  as  something  peculiarly  American.  They 
regarded  the  emigrants  as  deserters,  and  from  the 
day  when  William  Rotch  sailed  away  in  the  Maria, 
they  openly  denounced  the  migrants. 

In  fact,  while  Rotch  was  preparing  to  sail, 
Captain  Alexander  Coffin,  a  leader  of  the  patriots, 
wrote  (July  8,  1785)  to  Samuel  Adams  to  invoke 
legislation  against  the  emigrants.  He  said  (letter 
quoted  by  Starbuck)  that  Captain  Rotch  "is 
now  taking  on  board  a  double  stock  of  materials, 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  109 

such  as  Cedar  boards  (commonly  called  boat 
boards),  of  which  they  have  none  in  England,  a 
large  quantity  of  cooper's  stuff  for  casks,  &c. 
Neither  does  it  stop  here.  The  house  of  Rotch 
have  been  endeavoring  to  engage  an  acquaintance 
of  mine  to  go  to  Bermudas  to  superintend  the 
business  at  that  place.  .  .  .  One  of  the  company 
is  now  at  Kennebeck,  contracting  with  some 
persons  for  an  annual  supply  of  hoops,  staves, 
and  other  lumber  necessary  for  the  business." 
In  consequence  of  Coffin's  letter,  Massachusetts 
forbade  the  exportation  of  the  materials  that  Rotch 
was  taking. 

The  depression  which  drove  Rotch  and  his 
associates  from  Nantucket  was  by  no  means 
ended  when  Rotch  returned  to  America.  The 
weakness  of  the  American  republic  and  the  dis- 
ordered conditions  in  Europe  due  to  the  French 
Revolution  bore  heavily  upon  the  American 
whalers.  Pirates  and  piratical  privateers  swarmed 
from  the  ports  of  the  West  Indies.  Some  of  the 
whalers  were  captured  and  others  were  driven 
from  the  sea  by  the  danger  of  capture.  The  good 
fighting  done  by  the  little  American  navy  in  the 


I  io     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

quasi-war  with  France  ended  to  a  large  extent  the 
depredations  of  the  French  pirates;  but  the  Ameri- 
can foreign  policy  was  changed  after  the  end  of 
that  war.  Under  the  new  administration  (Jef- 
ferson's), the  aggressions  of  European  belligerents 
were  to  be  stopped  by  a  policy  of  "peaceable 
coercion."  The  American  government  thought 
it  possible  to  compel  the  British,  during  the  war 
with  Napoleon,  to  grant  "free  trade"  to  American 
ships  by  a  threat  to  cease  buying  certain  British 
goods,  such  as  beer,  playing  cards,  etc.,  in  case  the 
grant  were  not  made.  When  an  American  war- 
ship was  attacked  upon  the  high  seas  and  a  part 
of  her  crew  carried  away  by  a  British  frigate,  the 
American  administration  avenged  the  outrage  by 
laying  an  embargo  on  all  American  shipping! 
No  other  part  of  the  history  of  the  American  people 
is  so  exasperating  to  a  modern  patriot  as  that 
relating  to  the  period  between  1801  and  1812. 

Naturally  an  embargo  upon  American  shipping 
was  wholly  ruinous  to  the  whalers,  and  it  was 
during  the  embargo  period  that  most  of  the  whale- 
men whose  names  appear  in  the  list  of  captains 
of  foreign  whale  ships  emigrated.  Finding  it 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  in 

impossible  to  follow  their  calling  at  home,  they 
went  to  England  and  secured  employment,  even 
though  the  British  authorities  were  then  treating 
the  American  people  with  a  degree  of  injustice 
not  yet  forgotten.  Because  the  British  had  a 
strong  navy  and  knew  how  to  use  it,  the  British 
whale  fishery  flourished  while  the  American  whale 
fishery  was  depressed  beyond  measure. 

And  yet  during  the  long  period  between  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  and  the  end  of  the  War 
of  1812,  those  who,  like  the  people  of  Nantucket, 
could  build,  and  fit  out,  and  man  their  own  ships 
with  their  own  labor  and  resources  —  without 
borrowing  capital  —  had  a  fair  chance  to  make 
a  living,  and  a  few  of  the  more  enterprising, 
skilful,  and  fortunate  could  and  did  do  something 
more.1  The  business  as  a  whole,  however,  was 
of  very  little  consequence  as  compared  with  what 
it  had  been  in  the  good  times  before  the  Revolution. 

Between  1789  and  1815  one  notable  advance 
was  made  by  the  American  whalers :  they  increased 
the  size  of  their  ships  up  to  300  tons.  The  greater 

1  The  following  account  of  a  voyage  made  by  the  ship  Lion 
of  Nantucket  shows  how  owners  made  money  when  every- 


112     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

economy  found  in  the  use  of  larger  ships,  together 
with  the  discovery  of  new  fields,  really  saved  the 
American  whale  industry  from  extinction. 

And  yet,  curiously  enough,  the  progress  that 
called  for  larger  ships  sounded  the  death  knell 
of  the  Nantucket  whale  fishery.  The  myth  of  the 
red  whalers  was  true,  —  Nantucket  was  a  moc- 
casin full  of  sand  thrown  out  to  sea  by  the  giant 

thing  went  well.  The  "owners'  share  was  much  more  than 
the  ship  was  worth  "  (quoted  by  Weeden) : 

Ship  Lion,  Nantucket,  1807 


DR. 

To  am't  charge    .     .     . 
Sundry  acc'ts  in  clearing 
ship     
Share  of  captain,    1/18 
Share  of  mate,  1/27    . 
Share  of    second    mate, 
1/37                        .     . 

$362-75 

43-38 
2,072.13 
1,381.41 

1,008.06 

CR. 

By    37,358    gals, 
body  oil      .     .     $19,766.14 
By    16,868   gals, 
head  matter    .       17,849.73 
By      150     gals, 
black  oil     .     .              45.  15 

Share  of   2    ends   men, 
each,  1/48   .... 
Share    of    5   ends    men, 
each,  1/75     •'•"••''• 
Share   of   cooper,   1/60 
Share  of  boy,  1/120 
Share  of  5  blacks,  each, 
1/80 

1,554-10 

^,486.55 
621.64 
310.82 

2  731    IA 

Share    of    i    black,    on 
400  bbls.,  1/80     .     . 
Share  of   i   black,  1/90 
Share  of   i   black,  1/85 
Share  of  i  black  on  all 
but    400    bbls.,   1/90 
Ownes'  share  .... 

•^JOO  1*1H 

108.36 
414.42 
438.80 

318.10 
24,252.74 

$37,661.02 

$37,661.02 

A  Long  Period  of  Depression  113 

forces  of  nature.  The  arms  of  the  crescent,  in 
which  the  island  took  form,  provided  a  very  good 
shelter  from  sea  and  wind,  once  a  ship  had  arrived 
within  the  embrace.  But  across  the  mouth  of 
the  harbor  lay  a  bar  upon  which  the  water  was 
never  more  than  ten  feet  deep.  When  the  Nan- 
tucket  people  began  deep-water  whaling  with 
3O-ton  sloops,  the  harbor  was  excellent  for  their 
purpose.  When  the  ships  had  reached  a  size  of 
100  tons  and  more,  however,  trouble  began.  In 
pleasant  weather  lighters  were  sent  off  to  receive 
so  much  of  the  cargo  as  was  necessary  to  lighten 
the  ship  to  a  point  where  she  could  enter.  In 
foul  weather  the  ships  went  to  Martha's  Vineyard 
and  to  mainland  ports  to  shift  cargoes. 

By  their  ingenuity  the  Nantucket  whalers  kept 
afloat,  but  the  lightering  was  expensive.  More- 
over, there  were  dangers  to  be  considered  in  con- 
nection with  such  work.  Accordingly,  in  1803, 
when  many  of  the  Nantucket  ships  were  so  large 
that  they  could  scarcely  cross  the  bar,  though 
in  ballast  only,  the  people  of  the  island  made  an 
appeal  for  help  to  the  national  government.  The 
document  can  be  found  in  Volume  X,  American 


114     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

State  Papers,  pp.  526-527.  In  it  the  story  of  the 
Nantucket  fishery  is  told  briefly;  reference  is 
made  to  the  large  bounties  which  were  then  paid 
by  the  British  and  French  governments  to  sustain 
their  whalers,  and  then,  with  these  facts  for  an  ar- 
gument, the  Nantucket  whalers  asked  "that  Con- 
gress would  grant  them  the  nett  revenue  collected  in 
Nantucket  as  a  fund  to  enable  them  to  extend  piers 
into  the  sea,  so  as  to  form  a  narrow  channel  which 
might  be  deepened  and  would,  (as  they  conceive,)  be 
kept  deep,  when  so  confined,  by  the  rapidity  of  the 
tide  flowing  in  and  out." 

A  more  modest  or  a  more  worthy  petition  for 
national  aid  cannot  be  found  in  the  archives  of 
the  nation.  They  asked  only  that  they  might 
retain  for  a  time  their  own  contributions  toward 
the  support  of  the  general  government  and  use 
the  money  to  increase  their  facilities  for  doing 
their  peculiar  business,  and  thus  increase  their 
ability  to  make  greater  contributions  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  government. 

Further  than  that,  here  were  a  number  of  plain 
but  observing  sailors,  men  without  scientific 
training,  proposing  the  very  means  for  cutting 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  115 

away  sandbars  which  brought  fame  to  the  cele- 
brated engineers  who  deepened  the  water  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  gave  to  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina,  a  new,  deep,  and  permanent 
channel  to  its  harbor. 

The  modest  petition  of  the  Nantucket  whalers 
was  considered  by  a  committee  of  Congress. 
The  committee  reported  that  they  reflected  "with 
great  pleasure  on  the  enterprise  and  skill  with 
which  the  inhabitants  of  Nantucket  have  pursued 
the  whale  fishery;  affording  an  admirable  example 
of  zeal  and  industry  to  all  nations  of  the  earth," 
and  then  resolved,  "That  the  inhabitants  of  the 
island  and  town  of  Nantucket  .  .  .  have  leave 
to  withdraw  the  said  petition." 

In  1806  the  whalers  came  once  more  to  Congress 
for  relief.  They  pointed  out  the  disadvantages  un- 
der which  they  labored  because  of  the  necessity 
of  taking  their  ships  to  other  ports  to  discharge  the 
oil  into  lighters,  and  then  said : 

"Add  to  this  the  collectors  of  the  customs 
charge  the  fees  of  office  in  each  collection  district, 
although  the  ships  have  no  foreign  goods  on 
board,  so  that  whaling  vessels  are  almost  always 
compelled  to  pay  double  custom  house  expenses." 


n6     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

A  committee  of  Congress  considered  this  appeal ; 
it  also  listened  to  the  politicians  ("good  fellows," 
every  one,  beyond  a  doubt),  who  held  the  offices 
of  collector  of  customs  at  the  ports  involved,  and 
then  declared  that  "it  would  seem  to  be  fair  and 
reasonable  that  the  collectors  of  customs  should 
receive  their  regular  fees  in  transacting  all  their 
official  business";  because,  forsooth,  "the  fishery 
is  profitable  to  those  who  carry  it  on,"  and  the 
payment  of  double  fees  "cannot  operate,  in  any 
essential  degree,  as  a  discouragement." 

In  1806  thirteen  whale  ships  cleared  from 
Nantucket  and  eight  cleared  from  New  Bedford, 
the  port  next  to  Nantucket  in  the  extent  of  its 
whaling  business.  In  1818  Nantucket  sent  eigh- 
teen whale  ships  to  sea;  New  Bedford,  twenty- 
five.  In  1846  (called  the  "boom  year"  of  whal- 
ing) sixteen  whalers  cleared  from  Nantucket  and 
sixty-nine  from  New  Bedford. 

In  1839  the  whalemen  of  Nantucket  made  a 
supreme  effort  to  overcome  the  disadvantages  of 
a  shoal  bar  at  the  harbor  entrance  by  building  a 
steam  "camel."  This  camel  was  a  floating  dock 
that  was  able  to  travel  in  and  out  of  the  harbor 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  117 

with  its  own  motive  power.  It  was  large  enough 
to  pick  up  a  loaded  whale  ship  and  carry  it  across 
the  bar.  Though  it  was  used  for  the  purpose 
intended,  it  was  not  a  practical  success,  and  it  was, 
in  time,  abandoned. 

In  1857  four  whale  ships  cleared  from  Nantucket 
and  ninety-five  from  New  Bedford.  New  Bed- 
ford at  that  time  owned  329  whale  ships;  Nan- 
tucket  owned  only  forty-one,  and  these  were 
handled  chiefly  from  other  ports.  In  1874  Nan- 
tucket's  name  disappeared  from  the  list  of  Ameri- 
can whaling  ports.  Because  only  ten  feet  of  water 
was  found  on  their  harbor  bar  at  best,  the  whalers 
who  taught  their  arts  to  the  whaling  world  were 
beaten  at  last  and  compelled  to  emigrate  to  other 
ports  where  the  water  was  deeper. 

The  story  of  the  American  whalers  during  the 
War  of  1812,  though  brief,  is  interesting.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  war  Nantucket  owned  forty- 
six  whale  ships.  Of  these  about  twenty  sailed 
for  the  Pacific  in  the  year  1811.  New  Bedford 
sent  one  ship  to  those  grounds,  the  Barclay,  Cap- 
tain Gideon  Randall.  These  ships  were  yet  on 
the  Pacific  when  the  war  began,  and  that  fact  was 


Ii8     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

well  known  to  the  Nantucket  renegades  who  were 
in  the  British  whale  fishery.  Accordingly,  the 
renegades  secured  letters  of  marque,  armed  their 
ships,  and  sailed  for  the  Pacific  to  prey  on  their 
former  friends  and  neighbors.  One  of  them  was 
so  eager  for  plunder  that  he  did  not  wait  for 
a  commission;  and  he  was  caught  plundering  in 
a  way  that  would  have  justified  the  American 
authorities  in  hanging  him  as  a  pirate.  However, 
the  appearance  of  the  United  States  frigate, 
Essex,  under  Commodore  David  Porter,  in  the 
Pacific,  not  only  released  the  American  whalers 
that  the  renegades  had  captured,  but  all  of  the 
British  whale  ships  except  one  were  taken,  and 
the  one  was  compelled  to  lie  idle  in  harbor  while 
Porter  was  making  his  famous  cruise. 

The  story  of  the  whaler  Barclay  and  Captain 
Randall  is  worth  giving  in  some  detail  because  of 
his  connection  with  the  first  admiral  of  the  Ameri- 
can navy,  David  Glasgow  Farragut,  on  whom  he 
tried  to  play  a  practical  joke,  with  results  that 
Farragut  remembered  all  his  life. 

While  at  work  off  the  coast  of  Peru  the  Barclay 
was  captured  by  a  Peruvian  corsair  called  the 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  119 

Nereyda.  Spain  (Peru  was  yet  a  Spanish  pos- 
session) was  not  at  war  with  the  United  States, 
but  she  was  an  ally  of  Great  Britain  in  the  war 
with  Napoleon,  and  the  captain  of  the  corsair 
thought  that,  as  Britain's  ally,  he  might  lawfully 
prey  on  the  valuable  whale  ships  from  New  Eng- 
land. He  found  the  Barclay  almost  full  of  oil, 
and  taking  out  her  crew  he  put  some  of  his  own 
men  on  her  and  sent  her  toward  port.  On  the 
way,  however,  the  Barclay  fell  in  with  a  British 
whaling  letter  of  marque,  the  captain  of  which 
soon  learned  the  conditions  prevailing  upon  the 
captured  ship.  The  fact  that  the  Barclay  was  then 
under  the  Peruvian  flag  was  a  matter  of  no  im- 
portance to  the  British  captain,  for  he  promptly 
set  the  Peruvians  ashore  and  took  possession  of 
the  Randall. 

Unhappily  for  him,  however,  the  Essex  came 
along  and  took  both  him  and  the  Barclay.  The 
Essex  had  taken  the  Nereyda,  meantime,  and 
released  Captain  Randall.  Commodore  Porter 
now  offered  to  give  the  Barclay  to  Randall,  but 
the  crew  of  the  Barclay  had  shipped  on  the  Essex 
and  declined  to  return  to  the  whaler.  The  whaler 


izo     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

was   therefore    manned   with    naval    seamen    and 
kept  in  company  with  the  Essex. 

In  due  time,  other  ships  having  been  captured, 
Porter  found  himself  short  of  officers  to  place  in 
command  of  the  prizes,  and  in  this  emergency 
he  ordered  Midshipman  David  Glasgow  Farragut 
to  the  command  of  the  Barclay,  although  Farragut 
was  only  twelve  years  old.  What  happened  after 
Farragut  took  command  of  the  whale  ship  is  told 
in  the  admiral's  Memoirs: 

"This  arrangement  caused  great  dissatisfaction  on 
the  part  of  the  captain  of  the  Barclay,  a  violent-tempered 
old  fellow;  and  when  the  day  arrived  for  our  separation 
from  the  squadron  [the  Barclay  was  ordered  to  Val- 
paraiso], he  was  furious,  and  very  plainly  intimated  to 
me  that  I  would  'find  myself  off  New  Zealand  in  the 
morning';  to  which  I  most  decidedly  demurred.  We 
were  lying  still  while  the  other  ships  were  fast  disappear- 
ing from  view. 

"I  considered  that  my  day  of  trial  had  arrived  (for  I 
was  a  little  afraid  of  the  old  fellow,  as  every  one  else 
was).  But  the  time  had  come  at  least  for  me  to  play 
the  man;  so  I  mustered  up  courage  and  informed  the 
captain  that  I  desired  the  mainsail  filled  away,  in  order 
that  we  might  close  up  with  the  Essex  Junior.  He 
replied  that  he  would  shoot  any  man  who  dared  touch  a 


A  Long  Period  of  Depression  121 

rope  without  his  orders;  he  'would  go  his  own  course, 
and  had  no  idea  of  trusting  himself  with  a  d — d  nut- 
shell,' and  then  he  went  below  for  his  pistols.  I  called 
my  right-hand  man  of  the  crew,  and  told  him  my  situa- 
tion; I  also  informed  him  that  I  wanted  the  maintop- 
sail  filled.  He  answered  with  a  clear  'Aye,  aye,  sir!' 
in  a  manner  which  was  not  to  be  misunderstood,  and 
my  confidence  was  perfectly  restored.  From  that  mo- 
ment I  became  master  of  the  vessel,  and  immediately 
gave  all  necessary  orders  for  making  sail,  notifying  the 
captain  not  to  come  on  deck  with  his  pistols  unless  he 
wished  to  go  overboard;  for  I  really  would  have  had 
very  little  trouble  in  having  such  an  order  obeyed. 

"  I  made  my  report  to  Captain  Downes,  on  rejoining 
him,  and  the  captain  also  told  his  story,  in  which  he 
endeavored  to  persuade  Downes  that  he  only  tried  to 
frighten  me.  I  replied  by  asking  Captain  Downes  how 
he  succeeded." 

It  was  a  serious  matter  to  the  young  naval  officer, 
but  the  fact  that  Captain  Randall  said  that  he 
would  find  himself  "off  New  Zealand  in  the  morn- 
ing," though  New  Zealand  was  on  the  farther  side 
of  the  ocean,  shows  how  the  whaler  really  viewed 
the  matter.  The  fact  is  that  in  those  days  it  was 
the  custom  of  whaler  captains  to  take  great  interest 
in  the  youngsters  on  their  own  ships,  and  to  train 


122     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

them  in  many  ways.  Captain  Randall  was  but 
training  the  youth  who  was  to  do  much  for  the 
honor  of  the  flag  later,  and  he  was  as  much  pleased 
as  any  one  when  the  lad  was  able  "at  least  to  play 
the  man."  The  Barclay  was  taken  to  Valparaiso, 
and  she  sailed  thence  for  New  Bedford,  arriving 
there  in  March,  1814,  with  1800  barrels  of  oil. 

The  records  show  that  Captain  Randall,  while 
in  command  of  the  ship  George  and  Susan,  "came 
home  sick,  1819."  Thereafter  he  disappears  from 
the  record.  The  Barclay  was  in  commission  until 
1859,  when  she  was  "withdrawn,"  too  old  for 
further  service,  and  was  sent  to  the  "bone  yard." 

When  by  good  fighting  afloat  during  the  War 
of  1812  the  American  people  gained  the  right  to 
send  their  merchantmen  to  all  parts  of  the  earth 
unmolested  by  any  power  whatever,  a  new  era 
dawned  upon  the  whalers  and  upon  all  other 
American  ships. 


VII 
ADVENTURES   OF  THE   EXPLORERS 

I  asked  a  maiden  by  my  side, 

Who  sighed  and  looked  to  me  forlorn, 
"Where  is  your  heart?"     She  quick  replied, 
'"Round  Cape  Horn." 

I  said,  "I'll  let  your  father  know," 
To  boys  in  mischief  on  the  lawn ; 
They  all  replied,  "Then  you  must  go 
'Round  Cape  Horn." 

In  fact,  I  asked  a  little  boy 

If  he  could  tell  where  he  was  born; 
He  answered  with  a  mark  of  joy, 
"'Round  Cape  Horn." 

—  Old  "gamming"  song. 

WHEN  Nantucket  men  first  went  whaling 
in  deep-water  ships,  the  world  was  new 
in  a  way  not  now  easily  comprehended. 
Spain  had  drawn  a  line  across  the  South  Sea  from 
Panama  and  Mexico  to  Manila.    Drake,  Dampier, 
and  a  few  other  hardy  souls  had  followed  that 
123 


124     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

route  in  search  of  the  annual  treasure  ship,  —  some- 
times with  success,  —  but  outside  of  this  thin  line 
the  mighty  expanse  of  the  Pacific  was  unknown. 
In  1743-1744  Admiral  Lord  Anson  strove  to  take 
a  squadron  of  six  ships  around  Cape  Horn  to 
destroy  the  Spanish  forces  on  the  west  coast  of 
South  America,  but  so  great  were  the  real  dangers 
as  well  as  the  terrors  of  the  passage  that  only  one, 
the  ship  carrying  the  flag,  succeeded.  Admiral 
Bougainville,  of  the  French  navy,  became  famous 
as  an  explorer  because  he  succeeded  in  sailing 
around  the  world  a  little  later.  It  was  on  February 
14,  1779,  that  Captain  James  Cook,  one  of  the 
most  noted  of  the  explorers  of  the  Pacific,  was 
killed  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  it  was  not  until 
1 791-1 795  that  Vancouver  did  the  work  that  placed 
his  name  on  the  map  of  the  northwest  coast. 

In  the  Atlantic,  during  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  waters  were,  of  course,  better  known.  The 
slaver's  three-passage  route  was  followed  often 
enough.  There  were  packet  lines  from  Spain 
to  the  West  Indies  and  the  river  Plate,  from 
France  to  the  St.  Lawrence  (before  the  year  1762), 
and  from  England  to  her  colonies.  But  only  the 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  125 

American  sailors  had  recognized  the  Gulf  Stream, 
and  wide  breadths  of  the  South  Atlantic  had  never 
felt  the  cut  of  a  keel.  Indeed,  as  already  noted, 
when  Burke,  in  his  speech  on  Conciliation  with 
America  (1775),  wished  to  praise  in  highest  terms 
the  bold  enterprise  of  the  people  of  Nantucket,  he 
told  how  they  ventured  in  their  whale  ships  to  the 
Falkland  Islands. 

Terrors  that  were  then  very  real  seem  foolish- 
ness now.  As  late  as  1833  the  sloop  Fame, 
Captain  Peter  Myrick,  of  Nantucket,  sailed 
(July  27)  "in  search  of  whales,  sea  serpents,  &c." 
For  this  fishery  she  carried  patent  harpoons  that 
were  charged  with  poison,  —  prussic  acid.  In 
earlier  days  than  that  the  superstitions  of  the  sea 
led  the  captain  of  the  ship,  even  the  bravest  of 
captains,  to  go  to  an  astrologer  for  a  horoscope 
that  would  tell  when  the  stars  were  in  the  right 
position  to  bring  good  luck  to  the  venture.  The 
fateful  day  having  come,  the  sails  were  spread,  but 
never  before,  no  matter  how  well  the  wind  served. 
The  horoscope  cleared  away  the  terrors,  —  the 
imaginary  dangers,  —  but  real  ones  remained  that 
tried  the  soul. 


126     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 


HOROSCOPE   PREPARED   FOR   CAPTAIN   DAVID    LINDSAY,    OF    THE 
BRIGANTINE  "SANDERSON,"  NEWPORT,  RHODE  ISLAND,  1752. 

The  quality  of  the  ships  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact  that  as  late  as  1825  tne  Kingston,  Captain 
Alexander  Perry,  of  Nantucket,  was  sheathed  with 
leather  as  a  protection  from  the  ravages  of  the 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  127 

teredo.  The  whirl  of  the  cyclone  had  not  been 
recognized  and  ships  were  hove  to  with  their  bows 
pointing  toward  the  deadly  centre  of  the  hurricane. 
The  great  plague  of  the  sea,  scurvy,  was  ever 
before  the  crews  making  long  voyages.  The 
game  sought,  especially  the  sperm  whale,  was  not 
only  a  monster  of  prodigious  strength ;  it  was  well 
known  to  be  aggressively  vicious,  and  the  boat's 
crew  took  their  lives  in  their  hands  whenever 
they  lowered  for  the  chase. 

Nevertheless,  of  such  peculiar  fibre  was  the  mind 
of  the  whaler  that  the  terrors  and  dangers  which 
made  weaker  men  tremble  were  given  not  a 
thought,  as  he  made  sail  for  sea.  Indeed,  if  these 
dangers  had  any  moving  influence  whatever  upon 
the  American  whaleman,  they  did  but  strengthen 
his  determination  to  go.  With  a  spirit  like  that 
which  animated  those  who  searched  for  the  Golden 
Fleece,  or  that  in  the  breasts  of  the  Vikings  who 
braved  the  frozen  North,  he  went  forth  seeking 
wonderlands. 

Because  of  this  spirit,  enough  tales  of  adventure 
have  been  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  whalemen 
to  fill  a  large  volume,  some  of  which  shall  be  given 
here  to  illustrate  the  character  of  these  men. 


128     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

In  1827,  while  Captain  Alexander  Macy,  of  the 
ship  Peruvian,  was  "in  latitude  9  deg.  14  min. 
south  and  longitude  167  deg.  48  min.  west,"  he 
"discovered  land  bearing  from  westsouthwest 
to  south  by  west,  12  miles  distant,  his  ship  then 
heading  south  by  east.  On  the  following  day  he 
saw  two  other  islands,  or  prominent  parts  of  the 
island  seen  the  day  before,  with  valleys  intervening, 
lying  to  the  south  and  west,  the  nearest  part  four 
miles  distant.  This  island  was  well  wooded,"  and 
in  a  way  not  pleasing  "it  was  found  to  be  inhab- 
ited." Not  at  all  timid  were  these  islanders. 
"At  3  P.M.  a  canoe  with  five  natives  of  large  stature 
and  ferocious  countenances,  well  armed  with 
spears  and  clubs,  came  under  the  stern  of  the 
Peruvian,  and  remained  there  nearly  an  hour. 
Soon  after  many  other  canoes  were  seen  at  the 
leeward  paddling  in  a  direction  as  though  their 
object  was  to  intercept  the  ship.  The  manoeuvres 
of  the  natives  appeared  so  hostile  that  Captain 
Macy  made  all  sail  offshore."  When  the  ship's 
course  was  changed  the  whole  native  fleet  came 
directly  in  chase,  and  they  were  yet  bending  to 
their  paddles  when  night  came  on;  but  the  wind 
held  fair  and  the  ship  escaped. 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  129 

In  1819,  while  the  ship  Syren  was  near  the 
Pellew  Islands  her  boats  were  lowered  for  whales. 
The  natives,  seeing  that  she  was  left  with  but 
three  or  four  men  on  board,  came  off,  swarmed 
over  the  rail,  and  drove  the  ship  keepers  into  the 
rigging.  A  recall  signal  brought  the  mate's  boat 
alongside,  where  the  mate  was  able  to  see  the 
savages  dancing  in  glee  over  the  prize  they  had 
captured.  Happily  for  the  crew  a  quantity  of 
tacks  had  been  stowed  aloft,  and  remembering 
them  the  mate  shouted: 

"  Break  out  them  carpet  tacks  and  sow  'em  over 
the  deck." 

It  was  soon  done,  and  the  savages,  who  were 
wholly  unacquainted  with  such  things,  were  soon 
dancing  to  a  new  tune.  With  every  step  they 
accumulated  more  tacks  in  the  soles  of  their  feet, 
and  they  soon  plunged,  howling,  over  the  rail  and 
swam  ashore. 

A  dismal  tale  was  that  of  the  Ceno  of  Nantucket, 
commanded  by  Captain  Samuel  Riddle.  In 
April,  1825,  tms  smP  struck  on  a  reef  near  Turtle 
Island,  one  of  the  Fijis.  The  crew  were  received 
on  shore  with  kindly  demonstrations,  but  a  few 


130     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

days  later  another  clan  of  the  islanders,  on  coming 
to  where  the  sailors  were  living,  were  filled  with 
greed  for  the  strange  garments  worn  by  the  white 
men;  and  seeing  that  no  arms  were  carried  by 
the  sailors,  massacred  all  of  them  but  one,  who 
managed  to  hide  in  the  brush  until  the  murderous 
clan  had  gone  home. 

The  story  of  the  Awasbonks,  Captain  Prince 
Coffin,  of  Falmouth,  Massachusetts,  is  of  similar 
interest.  On  October  5,  1835,  this  ship  touched 
at  Namorik  Island,  one  of  the  Marshall  group, 
for  refreshments.  The  natives  came  off  in  un- 
usually large  numbers;  but  because  they  were 
entirely  friendly  in  their  actions,  no  thought  was 
given  to  this  fact.  After  some  time  spent  in  the 
usual  inspection  of  the  ship,  the  natives  suddenly 
gathered  into  a  compact  body,  seized  such  weapons 
as  were  within  reach,  —  especially  the  "spades" 
used  when  cutting  in  blubber,  —  and  attacked 
the  crew.  Captain  Coffin  was  beheaded  by  a 
single  stroke  of  a  spade.  The  man  at  the  wheel 
and  the  second  mate  were  quickly  killed.  The 
third  mate,  Silas  Jones,  wrenched  a  spade  from 
one  of  the  natives,  but  before  he  could  use  it  two 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  131 

other  natives  came  to  the  rescue  and  Jones  fled 
for  life  down  the  fore  hatch.  The  other  unhurt 
members  of  the  crew  had,  meantime,  escaped 
either  to  the  hold  or  the  rigging,  leaving  the  tri- 
umphant savages  to  take  charge  and  head  the  ship 
for  the  shore. 

Then  the  men  aloft  cut  away  the  running  rig- 
ging to  impede  the  progress  of  the  ship,  while 
those  below,  led  by  Jones,  worked  their  way  aft. 
Finding  in  the  cabin  a  number  of  muskets,  with 
ammunition,  a  fire  was  opened  on  the  savages, 
though  not  with  decisive  effect,  because  they 
gathered  in  places  out  of  sight. 

In  trying  to  get  out  of  range  a  number  of  the 
natives  perched  themselves  above  the  companion- 
way,  which  they  had  closed,  and  this  gave  Jones 
an  idea.  Placing  an  open  cannister  of  powder 
close  up  under  this  group,  he  laid  a  short  train 
and  then,  regardless  of  the  danger  he  incurred, 
he  fired  it.  The  explosion  tore  ofF  the  roof  of 
the  cabin  and  hurled  the  natives  away;  where- 
upon Jones  led  his  men  on  deck  and  drove  the 
savages  overboard  before  they  could  recover 
from  the  panic  the  explosion  had  created. 


132     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  story  of  another  third  mate,  Mr.  Benjamin 
Clough,  of  the  Sharon,  and  his  fight  with  murder- 
ous islanders,  may  very  well  be  told  here,  because 
of  the  effect  which  such  stories  had  upon  the 
industry  in  the  earlier  days.  On  October  15, 
1842,  the  whaler  Sharon,  Captain  Norris,  of  Fair- 
haven,  Massachusetts,  put  into  Ascension  Island 
for  wood  and  water.  When  ready  to  proceed  on 
her  voyage,  eleven  of  her  crew  deserted,  and  being 
protected  by  the  inhabitants,  they  succeeded  in 
eluding  the  officers  sent  in  search.  In  consequence 
of  this  the  ship  sailed  on  October  27  with  a  crew 
that  numbered  only  seventeen  men  all  told. 
The  captain  intended  to  touch  at  Bay  of  Islands 
or  Port  Jackson  and  fill  up  his  crew. 

On  Sunday,  November  6,  whales  were  raised, 
and  two  boats  were  lowered,  leaving  Captain 
Norris,  a  Portuguese  boy  named  Manuel  Jose 
dos  Rios,  and  three  natives  of  the  Kingsmill  group 
of  islands  on  board  to  keep  the  ship.  A  fourth 
islander  was  in  one  of  the  boats.  A  whale  was 
soon  killed  by  the  boats,  and  as  it  was  not  far 
from  the  ship  it  was  "waifed,"  so  that  the  ship 
might  easily  run  down  to  it  and  secure  it,  while  the 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  133 

boats  went  on  in  pursuit  of  the  "pod"  of  whales 
still  in  sight. 

At  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  while  the  mate, 
a  Mr.  Smith,  was  still  in  pursuit  of  the  whales, 
he  saw  that  the  signal  flag  of  the  ship  was  at  half 
mast,  —  a  call  to  return  to  the  ship  immediately. 
On  arriving  near  the  Sharon  the  boat's  crew  saw 
that  the  boy  was  aloft,  and  as  soon  as  they  were 
within  hail  he  told  them  that  the  islanders  had 
killed  Captain  Norris  and  were  in  possession  of 
the  ship.  To  confirm  this  story  one  of  the  natives 
at  that  moment  leaped  upon  the  rail,  entirely 
naked,  where  he  brandished  a  cutting  spade  and 
dared  the  crew  to  come  in  and  attempt  to  retake 
the  ship.  Another  of  the  natives  then  joined  this 
one,  while  the  third  mounted  the  opposite  rail. 
Along  both  rails  could  be  seen  the  spare  harpoons 
and  other  whaling  tools,  besides  sticks  of  wood 
and  belaying-pins. 

As  the  boat  lay  on  the  water  with  its  crew  gazing 
astounded  at  what  they  saw,  one  of  the  savages 
said  something  in  his  own  language  to  the  fourth 
native  who  was  in  the  boat.  It  is  supposed  that 
he  invited  him  to  jump  over  and  swim  to  the  ship, 


134     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

for  the  one  addressed  made  a  gesture  of  dissent. 
Instantly  the  one  on  the  ship  picked  up  the  cook's 
axe  and  hurled  it  at  the  one  in  the  boat.  The 
force  with  which  the  axe  was  thrown  was  so  great 
and  the  aim  was  so  true  that  the  weapon  made  a 
clean  cut  across  the  back  of  the  shirt  of  the  one 
in  the  boat,  and  it  would  have  killed  him  had  he 
not  dodged  it.  Then  the  three  natives  on  the  ship 
united  in  throwing  such  missiles  as  would  reach 
at  the  boat's  crew.  No  one  was  hit,  but  several 
whalebone  belaying-pins  struck  the  rail  of  the  boat 
and  were  broken  by  the  force  of  the  blow. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  dead  whale  had  been 
secured  alongside  before  the  natives  took  the  ship, 
and  that  the  sails  had  been  trimmed  to  prevent 
her  forging  ahead.  Fearing  that  the  mutineers 
would  swing  the  yards  until  the  sails  would  catch 
the  wind  and  drive  her  away  from  the  boats,  Mr. 
Smith  ordered  the  boy  to  cut  the  halyards  of  the 
upper  sails  on  the  mainmast  and  then  go  forward 
on  a  stay  and  cut  those  of  the  foremast.  This 
was  done.  Then,  the  boat  of  the  second  mate 
having  come  up,  a  consultation  was  held  to  deter- 
mine what  should  be  done  next.  For  it  was  evident 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  135 

that  retaking  the  ship  was  to  be  a  more  dangerous 
task  than  any  one  there  had  ever  faced.  It  was 
first  proposed  that  the  two  boats  should  separate 
and  make  a  dash  at  both  sides  of  the  ship  at  once. 
To  this  Mr.  Smith  replied  that  a  proper  regard 
for  the  interest  of  the  owners,  as  well  as  for  the 
safety  of  the  men  under  his  command,  required 
him  to  avoid  all  personal  risk,  and  he.  therefore 
suggested  that  the  crews  of  the  two  boats  should 
unite  in  the  boat  of  the  second  mate  and  attack 
the  ship,  leaving  him  alone  in  his  own  boat  at  a 
safe  distance  from  danger.  To  this  proposition 
there  was  immediate  dissent,  and  the  men  began 
to  talk  about  pulling  away  to  the  nearest  land. 
The  second  mate  dropped  out  of  the  consultation 
by  rowing  his  boat  out  of  talking  distance. 

In  the  meantime  the  mate's  boat  had  drifted 
rather  close  to  the  ship.  In  the  bow  of  this  boat 
stood  a  young  man  named  Benjamin  Clough. 
He  was  only  nineteen  years  old,  but  by  good  work 
had  made  himself  third  mate  of  the  ship.  Be- 
cause the  crew  was  short  of  its  complement,  he 
was  serving  the  mate  as  boat-steerer,  or  harpooner. 
On  seeing  the  boat  within  range  of  the  ship,  as 


136     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

he  supposed,  he  suddenly  picked  up  the  lance 
that  lay  at  his  knee  and  hurled  it  at  one  of  the 
islanders  standing  on  the  ship's  rail. 

As  the  lance  warp  was  not  long  enough,  the 
weapon,  after  stretching  the  warp,  fell  into  the 
sea.  The  native,  seeing  this,  laughed  jeeringly, 
and  invited  Clough  to  throw  again.  To  this 
invitation  Clough  responded  with  all  his  might 
as  soon  as  he  could  recover  the  lance;  and  again, 
to  the  glee  of  the  native,  the  lance  twanged  the 
warp  taut  and  then  fell  into  the  sea. 

Turning  to  the  mate,  Clough  said:  "Set  me  a 
stroke  or  two  nearer,  sir;"  but  the  mate,  instead 
of  doing  so,  ordered  the  men  to  pull  farther  away 
lest  the  natives  begin  throwing  their  ready  missiles 
at  the  boat  again. 

Upon  this  order  Clough  made  no  comment, — 
seamen  are  notably  polite  to  their  superior  officers, 
—  but  after  a  little  he  offered  to  go  alone  on  board 
the  ship  by  climbing  over  the  bows,  if  the  boy 
would  cut  loose  the  foreroyalstay  and  let  it  drop 
into  the  water  from  the  end  of  the  jibboom.  It 
was  dough's  intention  to  climb,  with  the  warp 
of  the  lance  in  his  mouth,  up  the  slender  stay  to 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  137 

the  end  of  the  jibboom  and  then,  after  getting  the 
lance  in  hand,  to  charge  down  the  spar  and  attack 
the  three  natives  single  handed. 

To  this  proposition  the  mate  gave  ready  con- 
sent, but  when  the  boy  in  the  rigging  tried  to  climb 
up  and  cut  the  stay  he  was  unable  to  do  so,  for 
he  had  been  weakened  by  fright  and  the  fatigue 
of  his  previous  work. 

As  the  ship  was  now  forging  slowly  ahead,  the 
two  boats  pulled  to  a  station  off  the  bows  where 
they  lay  idle,  silently  watching  the  sharks  that 
had  been  attracted  in  schools  by  the  carcass  of 
the  whale  beside  the  ship.  Finally,  when  night 
came,  Clough  once  more  offered  to  venture  alone 
upon  the  ship,  and  the  mate  once  more  con- 
sented. 

Stripping  naked,  the  young  officer  took  the  boat 
knife  in  his  teeth,  slipped  over  the  side  of  the  boat, 
and  began  working  his  way  through  the  water 
toward  the  stern  of  the  ship.  The  water  was 
full  of  sharks,  —  two  of  them  swam  slowly  beside 
him  as  he  made  his  way,  —  but  he  continued  un- 
til he  was  beside  the  ship's  rudder.  Up  this  he 
clambered  and  then  passed  in  through  the  cabin 


138     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

windows.  Though  it  was  perfectly  dark  in  the 
cabin,  Clough  found  two  cutlasses  and  two  muskets, 
which  he  loaded,  and  leaned  against  the  bulk- 
head beside  the  stairway  leading  up  to  the  deck. 
Then  a  shot-gun  was  found,  and  Clough  was 
loading  it  when  he  heard  a  native  coming  down 
the  steps.  Running  to  the  foot  of  the  steps,  Clough 
picked  up  a  cutlass  and  plunged  it  into  the  body 
of  the  native;  but  as  he  drew  it  forth  to  give  another 
lunge  the  native  grabbed  it.  A  struggle  ensued 
in  which  the  active  youth  managed  to  gouge  out 
one  of  the  native's  eyes,  but  the  native  in  the  mean- 
time got  a  hold  on  the  sword  and  cut  Clough's 
right  hand  so  severely  as  to  disable  it.  Then 
the  native  fell  exhausted. 

Two  of  the  savages  were  yet  to  be  dealt  with, 
however,  and  one  of  them  soon  came  to  the  head 
of  the  stairs  leading  down  into  the  cabin.  Look- 
ing up  Clough  could  see  dimly  that  the  native 
had  a  cutting  spade  poised.  Hastily  picking  up  a 
musket  from  the  floor,  Clough  with  his  left  hand 
and  right  forearm  got  it  pointed  up  the  stairs 
and  pulled  the  trigger.  The  native  fell,  dead, 
down  the  stairs,  but  the  spade  came  with  him, 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  139 

and  its  edge  struck  dough's  left  arm  in  the  thick 
muscle  above  the  elbow  and  cut  through  to  the 
bone. 

Clough  now  hurried  to  the  cabin  windows  and 
called  for  help,  telling  the  mate  that  only  one 
of  the  savages  was  yet  alive,  and  explaining  the 
nature  of  the  wound  that  the  cutting  spade  had 
inflicted.  To  this  appeal,  however,  the  mate  re- 
plied that  as  only  one  shot  had  been  heard  he 
could  not  believe  that  more  than  one  savage  was 
dead,  and  he  thought  it  best  not  to  venture  on 
board  as  yet.  Thereupon  Clough  tried  to  staunch 
the  flow  of  blood  from  his  wounds  by  applying 
such  clothes  as  he  could  find,  but  was  able  to 
accomplish  little  because  his  left  arm  was  entirely 
disabled  and  his  right  hand  was  so  badly  cut  that 
he  could  grasp  nothing  with  it.  So  he  lay  down 
on  the  cabin  floor  and  waited  the  issue  of  events. 

At  the  end  of  half  an  hour,  having  heard  no 
sound  from  the  ship,  the  mate  pulled  up  under 
the  stern  and  with  his  crew  climbed  in  through 
the  windows.  On  striking  a  light  they  saw  the 
savage  whom  Clough  had  killed,  lying  at  the  foot 
of  the  steps,  while  the  other  was  on  the  transom, 


140     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

living,  but  unable  to  move.  One  of  the  men 
promptly  stabbed  this  savage  twice  with  a  boat 
spade,  and  the  mate  fired  a  musket  into  the  dead 
body.  Then  the  men  went  on  deck.  The  re- 
maining savage  had  jumped  into  the  sea.  The 
dead  body  of  Captain  Norris  was  lying  on  the 
quarterdeck,  beheaded.  The  bodies  of  the  two 
dead  savages  were  thrown  into  the  sea  and  that 
of  Captain  Norris  was  prepared  for  burial.  Dur- 
ing the  night  the  remaining  savage  returned  to  the 
ship  and  was  put  in  irons.  He  was  delivered, 
eventually,  to  the  authorities  at  Sydney,  to  which 
port  the  ship  made  its  way.  Clough's  wounds 
healed  in  due  time.  When  the  ship  returned  to 
Fairhaven  the  owners,  in  spite  of  his  youth,  made 
him  its  captain,  and  then  laid  the  keel  of  a  new 
ship  of  600  tons  (the  Niagara},  especially  for  his 
use. 

Consider  the  story  of  Captain  Richard  Macy, 
of  the  Nantucket  ship  Harvest  (Vol.  IV,  "  Naval 
Affairs,"  in  American  State  Papers}.  In  1824, 
while  cruising  for  sperm  whales  "in  latitude 
21  deg.  21  min.  south  and  longitude  161  deg. 
west,"  as  the  log  read,  the  lookout  cried,  "Land 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  141 

ho ! "  The  captain  bore  away  for  a  look  near  at 
hand.  It  was  a  fair  land  in  the  eyes  of  the  sailors, 
for  it  was  covered  with  trees  and  other  vegetation, 
while  cocoanut  palms  stood  in  ranks  along  the 
beach.  After  a  time  a  harbor  was  found,  and 
cautiously,  with  lookouts  aloft  where  they  could 
see  under-water  reefs  when  far  away,  and  with 
men  at  the  braces  ready  to  trim  the  sails  should 
a  change  of  course  suddenly  become  necessary, 
and  with  others  heaving  the  lead  to  learn  the 
depth  of  water,  the  ship  reached  in  and  came  to 
anchor. 

Then  it  was  seen  that  the  island  was  not  only 
fertile,  but  it  was  inhabited.  People,  who  showed 
plainly  by  their  actions  that  they  were  "timid  and 
much  alarmed  by  the  approach  of  the  vessel," 
appeared.  It  was  manifest  that  they  "had  never 
been  visited  before,  nor  had  they  any  knowledge 
of  civilized  people." 

Thereupon  Captain  Macy,  though  familiar 
with  the  tragic  stories  told  of  such  islanders, 
lowered  a  boat  and  pulled  ashore.  A  little  im- 
agination helps  one  to  see  the  shaggy-bearded 
captain,  clothed  in  broad-brim  hat  and  a  shad- 


142     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

belly  waistcoat,  as  he  stood  at  the  stern,  steering 
that  boat  toward  the  shore  until  he  was  able  to 
leap  to  the  pebbly  beach.  How  he  smiled,  and 
spoke  in  soothing  tones  and  offered  gifts  that  were 
beautiful  in  the  eyes  of  the  savages  who  had 
gathered,  with  arms  in  hands,  to  meet  him,  need 
not  be  told  in  detail.  But  in  the  account  quoted 
it  is  noted  that  after  a  time  "they  gathered  around 
him  in  great  numbers.  They  would  not  allow 
him  to  move  or  walk  a  step,  but  carried  him  wher- 
ever he  wished  to  go,"  and  "paid  him  every 
homage  they  knew  how."  To  the  untutored 
mind  of  the  islanders  of  the  South  Sea  the  whaler 
was  a  god. 

Of  peculiar  interest  is  the  brief  description  of 
Deception  Island,  as  given  by  Captain  Pendleton, 
who  was  a  whaler  and  sealer  hailing  from  New 
London,  Connecticut.  On  approaching  the  island 
he  recognized  at  once  that  it  was  an  extinct 
volcano.  The  sight  of  such  a  peak  rising  out  of 
deep  water  excited  his  curiosity  and  he  went 
sailing  alongshore  for  a  further  examination. 
Thus,  very  unexpectedly,  he  came  to  a  huge 
gash  or  slit  in  the  side  of  the  mountain  affording 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  143 

"  a  passage  of  fourteen  fathoms  of  water  "  straight 
into  the  heart  of  the  peak.  Through  this  narrow 
passage  the  venturesome  captain  steered  his  ship 
until  she  was  floating  in  the  centre  of  the  ancient 
crater,  which,  to  his  eyes,  "had  the  appearance 
of  an  immense  bowl."  Who  but  a  whaler  would 
have  dared  to  steer  into  such  a  harbor  ? 

Then  imagine  the  feelings  of  the  whalers  who 
were  the  first  white  men  to  land  on  Fanning's 
Island.  It  was  "a  lagoon  island,  the  land  about 
five  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water."  On  this 
low  reef  the  sailors  found  "  the  remains  of  a  stone 
hut  about  twelve  feet  square,  and  in  it  human 
bones,  stone  hatchets,  and  blackfish  teeth  with 
holes  drilled  through  them.  Some  parts  of  the 
island  had  been  cultivated,  as  appeared  by  the 
gardens,  fences  of  stone,  &c.,  remaining." 

The  remainder  of  this  story  will  be  readily 
imagined  by  those  familiar  with  those  waters. 
Most  remarkable  navigators  were  the  natives  of 
some  parts  of  the  Pacific.  With  "tracks"  — 
charts  —  made  of  interlaced  and  curiously  woven 
sticks,  they  steered  boldly  forth,  following  not  only 
straight  courses  but  crossing  currents,  and  turning 


144     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

at  a  right,  or  any  other,  angle  from  the  original 
course  when  points  at  sea,  indicated  by  their  curi- 
ous charts,  had  been  reached.  How  they  were 
able  to  read  their  woven  sticks  they  could  not 
explain,  neither  did  they  know  the  origin  of  such 
curious  contrivances,  but  they  understood  the 
things  themselves,  and  they  made  crooked  pas- 
sages, hundreds  of  miles  in  length,  with  success. 
Of  course  they  failed  sometimes:  white  men, 
more  learned,  did  that  at  times,  too;  and  a  crew 
that  had  failed  had  landed  on  Fanning's  Island, 
built  a  rude  hut,  planted  gardens,  and  finally 
died  there  alone. 

Still  more  weird  was  a  tale  of  the  Arctic.  In 
August,  1775,  Captain  Warrens,  of  the  whaler 
Greenland,  while  drifting  in  a  calm  among  a  vast 
herd  of  icebergs  off  the  Greenland  coast,  saw  a 
vessel  that  seemed  to  be  badly  dismantled  aloft. 
His  "curiosity  was  so  much  excited  that  he  imme- 
diately leaped  into  his  boat  with  several  seamen 
and  rowed  toward  her,"  says  an  old  newspaper 
account.  "On  approaching  he  observed  that  her 
hull  was  miserably  weather-beaten  and  not  a  soul 
appeared  upon  deck.  He  hailed  her  crew  several 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  145 

times,  but  no  answer  was  returned.  An  open  port- 
hole near  the  main  chains  caught  his  eye,  and  on 
looking  into  it  he  perceived  a  man  reclining  back 
in  a  chair  with  writing  materials  on  a  small  table 
before  him.  The  party  therefore  went  upon  deck 
and  having  removed  the  hatchway  they  descended 
to  the  cabin.  Its  inmate  retained  his  former 
position  and  seemed  to  be  insensible.  He  was 
found  to  be  a  corpse,  and  a  green,  damp  mould 
covered  his  cheeks  and  forehead,  and  veiled  his 
open  eyes.  He  held  a  pen  in  his  hand,  and  a  log 
book  lay  before  him,  in  which  the  last  entry  was 
yet  decipherable.  It  read : 

"  'Nov.  14,  1762.  We  have  now  been  enclosed  in  the 
ice  seventeen  days.  The  fire  went  out  yesterday,  and 
our  master  has  been  trying  ever  since  to  kindle  it  again 
without  success.  His  wife  died  this  morning.  There  is 
no  relief.' 

"Captain  Warrens  and  his  seamen  hurried  from 
the  apartment  without  uttering  a  word.  On 
entering  the  principal  cabin  the  first  object  that 
attracted  their  attention  was  the  dead  body  of  a 
woman  reclining  on  a  bed  in  an  attitude  of  deep 
interest  and  attention.  Her  countenance  retained 


146     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  freshness  of  life.  Seated  on  the  floor  in  one 
corner  of  the  room  was  the  corpse  of  an  apparently 
young  man  holding  a  steel  in  one  hand  and  a  flint 
in  the  other,  as  if  in  the  act  of  striking  fire  upon 
some  tinder  that  lay  beside  him. 

"  In  the  forward  part  of  the  vessel  several  sailors 
were  found  lying  dead  in  their  berths  and  the  body 
of  a  dog  was  crouched  at  the  bottom  of  the  gang- 
way stairs." 

This  ship  with  her  dead  crew  had  been  pre- 
served in  the  Arctic  ice  for  thirteen  years.  Cap- 
tain George  E.  Tyson  relates  a  similar  story  in 
his  Arctic  Experiences. 

If  space  may  be  allowed  for  one  more  tale  of 
adventure,  contemplate  the  landing  of  Ronald 
MacDonald  on  one  of  the  Japanese  islands  in  the 
days  before  the  awakening  of  that  remarkable 
people.  One  ship,  the  Lady  Adams,  had  disap- 
peared near  the  Japan  coasts  (1826),  before  Mac- 
Donald  determined  to  go  ashore,  and  the  circum- 
stances made  the  whalemen  believe  that  she  had 
struck  a  reef,  and  that  her  crew,  after  reaching 
shore,  had  been  killed.  The  ship  Lawrence  had 
been  wrecked  near  the  coast,  and  the  second  mate 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  147 

and  seven  men,  after  landing,  had  been  treated 
with  great  cruelty.  One  of  the  number  had  been 
tortured  to  death.  The  crew  of  the  Lagoda,  of 
New  Bedford,  that  stranded  on  that  coast  at  about 
the  time  of  the  loss  of  the  Lawrence,  were  also 
tortured,  and  one  of  these  men  killed  himself  to 
escape  further  torment.  The  terrors  that  awaited 
all  who  might  be  cast  away  in  Japanese  waters 
were  well  known  to  the  whalemen  who  sailed  to 
those  waters,  and  yet  when  the  Plymouth,  of  Sag 
Harbor,  was  at  work,  on  a  pleasant  day,  within 
sight  of  one  of  the  islands,  Ronald  MacDonald, 
one  of  her  crew,  asked  for  and  received  his  dis- 
charge. In  lieu  of  his  "lay,"  he  took  a  boat 
equipped  for  landing  on  the  island.  He  carried 
with  him  sundry  books  and  utensils  likely  to  be 
interesting  to  the  natives,  and  boldly  sailed  to  the 
beach.  When  he  arrived  he  was  seized,  stripped 
of  his  possessions,  and  imprisoned;  but  because  it 
was  apparent  that  he  came  desiring  only  that  he 
might  be  serviceable  to  the  people,  and  because 
he  at  once  began  teaching  those  who  guarded  him 
the  English  language,  he  was  not  tortured. 

Some    time    after    MacDonald's    landing    an 


148     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

American  naval  expedition,  under  Commodore 
Biddle,  visited  Yeddo,  hoping  to  open  trade  rela- 
tions. On  the  arrival  of  the  naval  ships,  Mac- 
Donald  and  the  survivors  of  the  two  wrecked 
whale  ships  were  warned  never  to  return  to  the 
country,  and  then  all  were  sent  off  to  Commodore 
Biddle.  The  stories  told  by  these  whalemen,  in 
connection  with  what  Biddle  learned,  determined 
the  American  government  to  send  another  ex- 
pedition (that  under  Commodore  M.  C.  Perry)  to 
Japan  later,  with  the  results  well  known  to  all. 

From  the  earliest  days  of  the  deep-sea  whale 
fishery  the  boys  of  America  sat  by  the  hearth  and 
listened,  wide-eyed  and  breathless,  to  such  tales  as 
these  whenever  a  whale  ship  came  to  port.  They 
gazed  upon  the  curios,  wooden  swords  that  were 
edged  with  sharks'  teeth,  and  spears  that  were 
pointed  with  human  bones,  which  the  whalemen 
brought  to  fortify  their  stories.  And  then  they  read 
such  items  as  the  following,  taken  from  a  New 
York  paper  printed  in  April,  1831  : 

"  HUDSON,  N.Y.,  March  29. 

"  Huzza  for  the  Mansfield.  —  The  gallant  ship  Alex- 
ander Mansfield  which  fitted  out  at  this  port  last  May 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  14^ 

for  a  two-years'  voyage  has  returned  in  the  short  space 
of  nine  months  and  a  half  with  a  full  cargo  having  on 
board  2020  barrels  of  whale  oil,  180  br.  sperm  oil  and 
16,000  Ibs.  whale  bone.  On  Sunday  evening  she  arrived 
at  this  place  and  safely  moored  at  the  company's  dock 
amidst  the  loud  huzzas  of  the  citizens,  and  the  firing 
of  cannon.  .  .  .  The  Mansfield  will  be  immediately 
refitted  for  a  second  voyage.  .  .  .  We  have  also  at  the 
company's  docks  a  beautiful,  substantial  vessel  of  about 
1800  barrels  burthen,  called  the  Washington,  which  is 
fitted  for  a  whaling  voyage.  Such  is  the  spirit  of  the 
young  men  in  this  vicinity  that  there  are  already  more 
applications  for  berths  than  will  be  wanted  to  man  her." 

f~In  the  early  days  the  American  whalemen  were 
made  up  from  among  the  boys  who  were  spurred 
on  to  the  sea  by  a  love  of  adventure,  and  of  honor, 
and  of  wealth,  all  in  the  order  named.  It  was 
because  the  whalemen  were  of  the  boldest  and 
most  enterprising  men  of  the  nation  that  the 
fishery  was  spread  over  unknown  seas  and  to  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  within  a  period  of 
time  that  was  astonishingly  brie 
TQw^th&^batera  did  this  work  ohall 


In  1775  to  have  made   a   voyage  to  the  Falk- 
lands  was  so  great  a  distinction  that  England's 


150     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

best-remembered  statesman  of  the  period  lauded 
the  voyagers  in  his  greatest  speech.  Captains 
David  Smith  and  Gamaliel  Collins,  of  Truro, 
Cape  Cod,  were  the  whalers  who  earned  this 
honor.  Their  voyage  was  made  in  1774.  A 
voyage  around  the  Horn  was  the  next  venture 
forward. 

Among  the  notable  merchants  of  London, 
England,  in  1787  or  1788,  was  Samuel  Enderby, 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  whale  fishery,  and 
in  trade  with  America  for  many  years.  He  was 
especially  interested  in  whale  products,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  year  mentioned  he  fitted  out  the 
ship  Amelia,  Captain  James  Shields,  a  Nantucket 
man,  for  a  voyage  to  the  fishery  on  the  coast  of 
Brazil.  The  mate  of  the  ship  was  Archilaus 
Hammond,  also  a  Nantucket  man.  On  reaching 
the  Brazil  banks  it  was  found  that  the  season 
was  ended.  The  whales  had  migrated.  To  men 
like  Captain  Shields,  however,  seeming  misfortunes 
do  but  furnish  opportunity  for  distinction.  Shields 
had  read  the  story  of  the  explorations  of  Captain 
Cook,  R.N.,  made  between  1768  and  1779. 
Cook  had  seen  many  whales  on  the  west  coast  of 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  151 

South  America,  and  when  Captain  Shields  found 
himself  on  the  Brazil  coast  too  late  in  the  season, 
he  braced  his  yards  on  the  port  tack  and  stood 
down  to  south' ard,  bound  for  Cape  Horn. 

The  luck  that  follows  on  enterprise  came  to 
Captain  Shields.  He  found  the  west  coast  a 
"greasy"  ground,  and  First  Mate  Archilaus 
Hammond  was  the  first  white  man  to  drive  a  lance 
under  the  shoulder-blade  of  a  whale  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  Amelia  returned  to  London  full  of 
oil  in  September,  1790. 

The  story  told  by  Shields  reached  Nantucket 
and  New  Bedford  before  the  end  of  the  year, 
and  in  1791  six  or  seven  ships  sailed  from  these 
two  ports  for  the  new  grounds. 

Soon  so  many  ships  were  haunting  these  grounds 
that  the  whales  were  killed  or  driven  off.  Cap- 
tain George  Swain,  2d,  of  Nantucket,  who  sailed 
thither  in  1817,  declared  on  his  return,  two  years 
later,  that,  although  he  had  saved  1388  barrels 
of  sperm  oil  and  568  of  whale  oil,  no  ship  would 
ever  again  fill  with  sperm  on  that  coast.  Captain 
George  W.  Gardner,  commanding  the  Globe,  of 
Nantucket,  sailed  in  1818  for  those  grounds,  in 


152     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

spite  of  the  gloomy  forebodings  of  Captain  Swain. 
On  reaching  the  grounds,  however,  he  became 
convinced  that  Swain  was  very  nearly  right,  but 
with  even  greater  confidence  in  his  luck  than  that 
which  had  animated  the  captain  of  the  Amelia, 
he  put  his  helm  astarboard  and  steered  westerly 
into  the  unknown  seas.  It  is  because  he  steered 
into  unknown  waters  that  the  enterprise  of  Captain 
Gardner  must  be  considered  greater  than  that 
of  Captain  Shields.  By  this  venture  Captain 
Gardner  found  the  "Offshore  Grounds."  At 
the  end  of  twenty-six  months  (whalers  always 
reckoned  the  length  of  their  voyages  by  the  number 
of  months)  Gardner  reached  home  with  an  inter- 
esting, if  not  a  very  eventful,  story  of  exploration, 
and  2090  barrels  of  sperm  oil,  worth  $61,555.73. 
The  Globe  was  the  first  ship  to  carry  more  than 
2000  barrels  of  sperm  oil  to  Nantucket.  Some 
years  later  this  ship  appears  again  in  the  annals 
of  the  whalers  because  of  a  remarkable  mutiny 
among  her  crew. 

While  Captain  Gardner  worked  the  Offshore 
Grounds,  Captain  Joseph  Allen,  of  the  Maroy 
a  Nantucket  ship,  sailed  (October  26,  1819)  for 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  153 

the  Pacific.  At  the  Sandwich  Islands  he  found 
the  Rambler,  Captain  Benjamin  Worth,  of  Nan- 
tucket;  the  Syren,  Captain  Benjamin  Coffin 
(a  Nantucket  man),  belonging  to  London  (En- 
derby  and  Sons) ;  the  Cyrus,  Captain  Elisha  Folger, 
and  the  Balena,  Captain  Edmund  Gardner,  both 
of  New  Bedford.  While  all  these  ships  were 
lying  in  port  the  merchant  ship  O'Cane,  under 
Captain  Winship,  a  Brighton,  Massachusetts, 
man,  came  in  from  Canton.  Captain  Winship  had 
passed  the  coasts  of  the  mysterious  Japanese 
islands,  and  had  seen  so  many  whales  that  he 
talked  with  enthusiasm  about  them  to  these 
whalers;  and  thereupon  the  whalers  made  sail 
for  that  far-away  region.  It  was  a  long  race,  and 
for  a  prize  that  might  excite  the  ambition  of 
any  yachtsman.  The  Syren  and  the  Maro  arrived 
first  and  together.  The  Syren  saved  her  first  whale 
on  the  loth  of  May;  the  Maro  got  her  first  on 
June  i.  Both  ships  were  full  to  the  hatches 
within  three  months  after  reaching  the  grounds. 
The  Maro  returned  after  a  voyage  of  29  months 
with  2425  barrels  of  sperm  oil. 

In  1828  four  Nantucket  ships  went  to  the  east 


154     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

coast  of  Africa,  where  they  hunted  sperm  whales 
around  Zanzibar  and  the  Seychelle  Islands. 
One  of  them,  the  Columbus,  found  her  way  into 
the  Red  Sea.  In  the  years  following  this  venture 
it  was  a  common  thing  for  the  whalers  to  go  to 
that  coast  and  then  sail  easterly  across  the  Indian 
Ocean  and  among  the  islands  beyond,  until  they 
met  their  neighbors  who  had  sailed  around  the 
Horn.  St.  Paul  and  Kerguelen  Land  became 
stopping  places  on  an  easterly  route  to  the  Pacific. 

Of  whaling  around  New  Zealand  it  is  recorded 
that  "large  schools  of  great  whales  abounded." 
"Several  ships  often  get  into  a  school  of  these 
whales  at  one  time,  each  vessel  taking  one  or  more 
whales  that  yield  TOO  barrels  of  oil."  Tasmania, 
New  Ireland,  the  Solomon  Islands,  New  Guinea, 
the  Kermadec  Islands,  New  Caledonia,  New 
Georgia,  —  all  these  coasts  were  soon  well  known 
to  the  whalers  of  the  United  States.  So,  too,  were 
the  Sooloos,  with  their  Malay  pirates. 

In  1835  the  Ganges,  Captain  Barzillai  T.  Folger, 
of  Nantucket,  sailed  along  the  northwest  coast  of 
North  America  from  latitude  50  to  latitude  60 
degrees,  and  found  whales  of  enormous  size. 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  155 

Some  cow  whales  yielded  as  high  as  250  barrels 
each.  The  bone  amounted  to  as  much  as  1000 
pounds  for  each  100  barrels  of  oil,  and  bone  was 
then  bringing  a  price  that  was  worth  while. 

In  1843  wnales  were  found  in  abundance  on 
the  coast  of  Kamchatka.  The  Herkules,  Captain 
Ricketson,  and  James,  Captain  J.  K.  Turner, 
both  of  New  Bedford,  were  the  first  on  that  coast. 
The  former  reached  home  on  April  3,  1845,  w^tn 
200  of  sperm,  1900  of  whale  oil,  and  12,000  pounds 
of  bone,  while  the  other  arrived  on  June  9,  1845, 
with  270  sperm,  1600  whale  oil,  and  20,000  pounds 
of  bone. 

It  was  in  those  days  that  the  bowhead,  a  whale 
so  called  because  of  the  shape  of  its  head  (it 
was  a  "bone"  whale),  was  first  seen  in  the  North 
Pacific.  Just  which  one  of  three  claimants  had 
the  honor  of  this  discovery  is  now  past  find- 
ing out.  Captain  George  A.  Coville,  of  New 
Bedford,  having  entered  the  Okhotsk  Sea  on  a 
venture,  killed  there  a  whale  which  he  supposed 
would  yield  about  70  barrels.  On  trying  out 
the  blubber  it  yielded  150.  The  whaler  Hunts- 
ville  was  in  the  region  about  that  time  and 


156     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

claimed  the  honor  of  killing  one  of  these  surpris- 
ing whales  before  Coville  killed  his.  A  French 
ship  named  the  Asia,  commanded  by  an  American, 
also  claimed  the  honor.  Disputes  aside,  it  is 
certain  that  many  whalemen  soon  found  large 
profit  on  these  grounds,  for  the  whales  were  so 
tame  and  easily  killed  that  saving  them  was 
like  slaughtering  pigs  in  the  barnyard  at  home. 
On  October  22,  1847,  the  little  bark  Superior 
(275  tons  only)  cleared  out  from  Sag  Harbor 
for  the  far-away  Asiatic  grounds.  On  arriving, 
it  occurred  to  Captain  Royce,  commanding  the 
bark,  that  the  Arctic  Gateway,  namely,  Bering's 
Strait,  was  but  a  little  way  off  to  the  north,  and 
that  it  was  invitingly  open.  Such  an  invitation 
was  irresistible,  and  squaring  away  he  entered. 
At  the  end  of  19  months  from  the  day  he  sailed, 
a  marvellously  short  time,  considering  the  dis- 
tance, the  Superior  sailed  back  into  Sag  Harbor 
with  all  flags  flying.  She  was  loaded  to  the  hatch 
combings  with  oil,  and  carried  bone  wherever 
it  could  be  stowed,  —  80  barrels  of  sperm,  2400 
of  whale  oil,  and  20,000  pounds  of  bone,  the  whole 
worth  $33,945-30. 


Adventures  of  the  Explorers  157 

"A  few  years  since,"  says  the  North  Ameri- 
can Review  (January,  1834),  "two  Russian  dis- 
covery ships  came  in  sight  of  a  group  of  cold, 
inhospitable  islands  in  the  Antarctic  Ocean. 
The  commander  imagined  himself  a  discoverer, 
and  doubtless  was  prepared,  with  drawn  sword 
and  with  the  flag  of  his  sovereign  flying  over  his 
head,  to  take  possession  in  the  name  of  his  Czar. 
At  this  time  he  was  becalmed  in  a  dense  fog. 
Judge  of  his  surprise,  when  the  fog  cleared  away, 
to  see  a  little  sloop  from  Connecticut,  as  quietly 
riding  between  his  ships  as  if  lying  on  the  waters 
of  Long  Island  Sound.  He  learned  from  the 
captain  that  the  islands  were  already  well  known, 
and  that  the  sloop  had  just  returned  from  ex- 
ploring the  shores  of  a  new  land  at  the  south; 
upon  which  the  Russian  gave  vent  to  an  ex- 
pression too  harsh  to  be  repeated,  but  sufficiently 
significant  of  his  opinion  of  American  enter- 
prise." 

{'The  day  of  the  explorers  was  the  Golden  Era 
of  the  whalers,  and  of  all  American  seamen. 
"Often  adventures  which  Vancouver  dedicates 
three  chapters  to,  these  men  accounted  unworthy 


158     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

of  being  set  down  in  the  ship's  common  log. " 
(Moby  Dick.)  *  A  list  of  more  than  four  hundred 
islands  which  were  discovered  in  the  Pacific 
by  American  whalers  is  found  in  the  public 
document  quoted  above.'  But  "whale,  strong- 
timbered  craft  and  swift  clipper  boat  are  gone. 
.  .  .  We  have  lost  our  natural  place  upon  the 
seas.  .  .  .  No  one  can  contemplate  these  achieve- 
ments and  this  decay  without  sadness."  (Weeden.) 


VIII 

WHALES   AS   THE   WHALERS    KNEW 
THEM 

Oh,  the  rare  old  whale,  'mid  storm  and  gale, 

In  his  ocean  home  will  be, 
A  giant  in  might  where  might  is  right, 

And  king  of  the  boundless  sea. 

—  Whale  song  quoted  in  Moby  Dick. 

WHEN  Owen  Chase,  mate  of  the  Nan- 
tucket  whale  ship  Essex  that  was  sunk 
by   a  whale  in    1820,  finally  reached 
home  and  related  his  experiences,  he  had  this  to 
say  about  the  whale  that   attacked   the    ship: 

"Every  fact  seemed  to  warrant  me  in  con- 
cluding that  it  was  anything  but  chance  which 
directed  his  operations;  he  made  two  attacks 
upon  the  ship  at  short  interval  between  them, 
both  of  which,  according  to  their  direction,  were 
calculated  to  do  us  the  most  injury,  by  being 
made  ahead  and  thereby  combining  the  speed 
159 


160     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

of  two  objects  for  the  shock;  to  effect  which 
the  exact  manoeuvres  which  he  made  were  neces- 
sary. His  aspect  was  most  horrible  and  such 
as  indicated  resentment  and  fury.  He  came 
directly  from  the  school,  which  we  had  just  before 
entered,  and  in  which  we  had  struck  three  of 
his  companions,  as  if  fired  with  revenge  for  their 
sufferings.  ...  At  all  events,  the  whole  cir- 
cumstances taken  together,  all  happening  before 
my  own  eyes,"  produced  "at  the  time  impres- 
sions in  my  mind,  of  decided,  calculating  mis- 
chief." 

The  mate's  thoughts,  as  he  left  the  ship,  are 
expressed  as  follows: 

"The  dark  ocean  and  swelling  waters  were 
nothing;  the  fears  of  being  swallowed  up  by 
some  dreadful  tempest  or  dashed  upon  hidden 
rocks  .  .  .  seemed  scarcely  entitled  to  a  moment's 
thought;  the  dismal-looking  wreck  and  the  hor- 
rid aspect  of  the  whale  wholly  engrossed  my 
reflections." 

Many  pictures  of  the  whale  have  been  printed. 
Some  were  the  dreams  of  poets.  Others  were 
the  tabulated  measurements  made  by  scientists. 


i 


Off  for  a  Two  Years'  Cruise 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      161 

Others  still  were  the  life  scenes  portrayed  by 
the  men  who  hunted  whales  wherever  whales 
were  to  be  found.  In  any  story  of  American 
whaling  all  of  these  pictures  seem  to  be  of  interest; 
but  if  it  were  necessary  to  make  a  choice  among 
them,  one  would  naturally  select  first  of  all 
those  made  by  men  who  received  their  impres- 
sions while  afloat,  gunwale  to  fluke,  beside  the 
monsters  to  be  described.  When  a  man  who 
has  worked  his  way  from  the  berth  of  an  ap- 
prentice to  that  of  chief  mate  of  a  whale  ship, 
as  Chase  had,  tells  what  he  has  seen  of  whales, 
his  words  are  worth  attention. 

Nevertheless,  it  seems  best  to  begin  here  with 
what  might  be  called  the  scientist's  point  of  view. 
As  the  reader  learned  long  ago,  the  whales  are 
not  fish,  but  mammals,  —  animals  that  suckle 
their  young.  Unlike  the  fish,  they  have  warm 
blood  and  lungs,  and  must  come  to  the  surface 
of  the  water  to  inhale  fresh  air  at  intervals  under 
penalty  of  death  by  drowning.  The  fins,  one  on 
each  side  near  the  body,  which  help  to  make 
the  whale  look  like  a  fish,  have  bones  within 
that  are  not  very  different  in  location  and  number 


162     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

from  the  bones  of  a  human  arm,  and  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  common  knowledge  that  the  mother  whale 
clasps  her  young  to  her  breast  by  means  of  a 
fin  much  as  a  human  mother  holds  her  babe. 

It  is  believed  that  in  some  long-ago  period 
of  the  world's  development  the  whales  lived 
alongshore,  part  of  the  time  on  land  and  part 
of  the  time  in  the  sea.  How  they  were  driven 
from  the  land  to  permanent  homes  in  the  sea 
is  a  matter  of  inference.  Very  likely  the  food 
supplies  in  the  ancient  seas  were  abundant. 
At  the  same  time  some  huge  reptile  sought  them 
for  food  when  they  were  out  on  the  land.  A 
peculiar  habit  of  the  modern  whale  strengthens 
the  belief  that  they  once  had  enemies  on  the 
shore;  when  alarmed,  now,  they  sometimes 
rise  up  perpendicularly  with  their  heads  well 
out  of  water,  —  they  stand  up  like  a  beaver,  so 
to  speak,  to  scan  the  sea,  and  when  in  that  posi- 
tion they  revolve  slowly  around  until  they  have 
looked  in  all  directions  with  both  eyes. 

While  in  Madagascar  waters,  Frank  Bullen 
(Cruise  of  the  Cacbelot)  saw  a  school  of  sperm 
whales  playing  around  the  ship,  the  crew  being 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      163 

too  busy  with  blubber  already  taken  to  lower 
in  pursuit.  Of  one  thing  they  did,  he  says: 

"As  if  instigated  by  one  common  impulse 
they  all  elevated  their  massive  heads  above  the 
sea  and  remained  for  some  time  in  that  position, 
solemnly  bobbing  up  and  down  amid  the  glitter- 
ing wavelets  like  moveable  boulders  of  black 
rock.  Then  all  suddenly  reversed  themselves 
and,  elevating  their  broad  flukes  in  the  air,  com- 
menced to  beat  them  slowly  and  rhythmically 
upon  the  water,  like  so  many  machines." 

It  is  supposed  that  whales  may  have  been 
animals  not  wholly  unlike  the  flat-tailed  beaver; 
that,  like  beavers,  they  sat  up  or  rose  up  on  their 
haunches  to  look  around  when  danger  seemed 
to  impend;  also  when  they  saw  anything  that 
excited  their  curiosity;  and,  finally,  that  in  the 
course  of  the  evolution  of  the  race  the  hind  legs 
were  eliminated  and  the  tail  was  developed  into 
the  form  now  seen. 

Of  hind  legs  the  whales  have  not  a  trace. 
From  their  lungs  to  the  tips  of  their  tails,  whales 
are  very  good  fish,  and  yet  the  whales  differ  from 
all  fish  in  the  position  of  their  flukes. 


164     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"A  whale  is  a  fish  with  a  tail  that  lies  on  the 
water  as  flat  as  a  pancake,"  said  an  old  whaler 
to  the  writer,  "and  every  fish,  big  or  little,  with 
that  kind  of  a  tail,  is  whale."  The  tails  of  fish 
are  in  a  vertical  plane. 

Of  the  many  kinds  of  whales  described  in  the 
works  of  scientists  two  are  of  special  interest 
here.  One  is  called  the  right  whale,  and  the 
other  the  sperm  whale.  Cachelot  is  another 
name  applied  to  the  sperm.  If  seen  side  by 
side  at  sea,  they  are  at  first  glance  very  much  alike, 
for  each  looks  like  a  long,  smooth,  black  rock, 
or  say  a  monster  log  of  black  wood  (albinos 
have  been  seen),  over  which  the  waves  run 
freely,  or  break  in  masses  of  foam  and  spray. 
When  they  raise  their  heads  out  of  the  water, 
however,  differences  are  at  once  seen.  The 
head  of  the  sperm  whale  is  as  blunt  and  flat  as 
if  the  animal  had,  during  untold  ages,  been  in  the 
habit  of  striking  its  head  on  the  bottom  every  time 
it  dove  for  food.  The  lower  jaw  is  long  and 
slender.  The  head  of  the  right  whale  is  blunt, 
but  well  rounded  instead  of  flat  on  the  end.  It 
is  rather  flat  on  top  and  the  lower  jaw  or  chin 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      165 

is  thicker  than  the  top  of  its  head.  As  each  whale 
expels  the  air  held  in  its  lungs  while  under  water, 
a  single  vapory  jet  is  spurted  up  and  forward 
at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  from  the  forward  point 
of  the  sperm  whale's  head;  the  right  whale  throws 
up  two  jets  from  the  back  part  of  its  head,  the 
spiracles,  as  the  breathing  holes  are  called,  being 
located  nearly  above  the  angle  of  its  jaws. 

If  the  mouths  of  the  two  kinds  of  whales  be 
examined,  most  remarkable  differences  are  found. 
A  single  row  of  teeth  is  found  on  each  side  of 
the  long,  narrow,  lower  jaw  of  the  sperm  whale, 
the  total  number  being  from  forty  to  fifty-six 
in  an  adult.  The  largest  of  the  teeth  are  nine  or 
ten  inches  long,  and  these  weigh  about  a  pound 
and  a  half  each.  They  are  all  pointed,  and  they 
are  placed  far  apart.  There  are  no  teeth  in  the 
upper  jaw.  A  hole  is  found  in  the  upper  jaw 
opposite  each  tooth,  and  when  the  mouth  is  shut 
the  teeth  set  into  these  holes.  The  teeth  are  not 
grinders;  they  merely  serve  to  hold  and  break 
apart  the  squirming  food  of  these  monsters, 
which  is  to  be  described  farther  on. 

The  right  whale  has  no  teeth.     Affixed  to  its 


i66     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

upper  jaw  are  slabs  of  a  hornlike  substance 
called  whalebone.  In  the  largest  whale,  slabs 
more  than  twelve  feet  long  are  found.  Captain 
David  Gray,  of  Peterhead,  Scotland,  a  noted 
authority,  counted  286  slabs  of  bone  on  one  side 
of  the  mouth  of  a  whale  he  killed  and  289  on 
the  other  side.  There  seems  to  be  no  regularity 
in  the  number  of  slabs;  other  whalers  who  have 
counted  them  find  a  different  number  with  every 
count.  When  the  whale's  mouth  is  closed  these 
slabs  are  slanted  back,  lying  like  piles  of  thin 
boards  between  the  upper  and  lower  jaws.  When 
the  mouth  is  opened,  the  lower  ends  of  the  slabs 
spring  forward  until  they  hang  almost,  but  not 
quite,  perpendicular  along  the  sides  of  the  mouth, 
where  they  form  a  screen.  The  inner  edge  of 
each  slab  is  frayed  and  split  into  many  long 
hairs  and  these  cover  over  and  fill  in  the  spaces 
between  the  solid  parts  of  the  slabs,  thus  con- 
verting a  coarse  screen  into  a  fine  sieve.  The 
lower  lip  supports  and  holds  in  place  the  lower 
edge  of  this  sieve,  while  the  upper  lip  is  drawn 
up  in  a  horrible  grin,  that  fully  displays  the  huge 
slabs. 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      167 

The  food  of  the  right  whale  consists  of  a  variety 
of  small  animals  that  float  in  wide  masses  on  the 
sea,  —  crustaceans  "not  larger  than  a  common 
house  fly,"  called  "brit"  by  the  whalers.  When 
the  whale  wishes  to  feed,  it  swims  to  and  fro 
with  its  mouth  open  through  the  floating  brit. 
Water  and  brit  together  float  into  and  through 
the  unobstructed  forward  part  of  the  mouth.  The 
water  then  flows  out  through  the  whalebone 
sieves  on  each  side  of  the  mouth,  while  the  brit 
is  caught  by  the  sieves. 

"The  usual  way  in  which  a  whale  feeds," 
wrote  Captain  Gray,  "is  to  choose  a  spot  where 
the  food  is  plentiful  and  swim  backward  and 
forward  for  two  or  three  hundred  yards  with 
the  nose  just  under  water.  They  invariably 
swim  from  one  side  of  the  beat  back  again  to 
where  they  started  from,  with  their  mouths  open. 
Then  they  close  their  jaws  and  swallow  the  food 
caught."  After  the  mouth  is  closed  the  tongue 
is  raised  and  the  remaining  water  is  forced  out, 
leaving  the  crustaceans  caught  on  the  screen. 
"They  often  go  with  the  point  of  the  nose  so 
near  the  surface  that  we  can  see  the  water  running 


168     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

over  it  just  as  it  does  over  a  stone  in  a  shallow 
stream.  .  .  .  Their  course  below  the  water  can 
often  be  traced  by  their  eddy.  This  is  caused 
by  the  movement  of  the  tail.  .  .  .  They  turn 
around  before  coming  to  the  surface  to  blow, 
and  lie  for  a  short  time  to  lick  the  food  off  their 
bone  before  going  away  for  another  mouthful." 
Whales  vary  much  in  size  even  when  adult. 
According  to  Whales  and  Porpoises,  by  George 
Brown  Goode,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  (p.  9),  "The  largest  sperm 
males  measure  from  80  to  84  feet  in  length,  the 
head  making  up  about  one-third  of  the  whole. 
The  youngest  sperm  whale  on  record  is  one  measur- 
ing sixteen  feet,  taken  near  New  Bedford  in  1842; 
its  weight  was  3050  pounds."  The  female  sperm 
is  small,  being  from  one-fifth  to  one-fourth  the 
size  of  the  male.  The  record  sperm  whale  re- 
ported at  New  Bedford  was  captured  by  Captain 
Owen  H.  Tilton.  It  produced  154  barrels  of 
oil.  Captain  C.  Allen  saved  one  that  produced 
150  barrels.  The  usual  product  is  from  forty 
to  fifty  barrels,  but  many  are  taken  that  yield 
from  80  to  100  barrels.  The  length  of  a  com- 
mon sperm  whale  is  from  forty  to  fifty  feet. 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      169 

The  largest  of  the  sperm  whales  —  eighty- 
four  feet  long  —  measure  thirty-five  or  thirty- 
six  feet  in  girth  at  the  thickest  part,  which  is  at 
the  neck,  if  a  whale  may  be  said  to  have  a  neck. 
The  body  is  deeper  than  it  is  broad  at  all  points 
from  the  head  to  the  "small"  (namely,  where 
the  body  joins  the  flukes),  and  at  the  small  it  is 
round.  The  height  (or  depth)  of  the  largest 
sperm  whale  "at  the  forehead  is  eleven  feet  and 
its  width  nine  or  ten  feet,"  according  to  Davis, 
author  of  Nimrod  of  the  Sea.  As  one  of  these 
monsters  lies  on  the  surface  with  its  head  out  of 
water  its  crown,  or  nose  angle,  is  as  high  above 
the  surface  as  the  roof  of  a  one-story  house. 
When  the  animal  is  standing  up  with  head  out 
of  water  scanning  the  horizon,  the  top  of  its  head 
may  be  not  far  from  thirty  feet  up  in  the  air,  or 
say  as  high  as  the  roof  of  a  three-story  house. 
It  would  not  seem  so  high  to  a  spectator  on  a 
ship,  because  the  immense  expanse  of  the  sea 
dwarfs  everything  afloat.  But  if  seen  from 
a  whale  boat  alongside,  it  would  seem  much 
larger,  especially  to  a  frightened  landsman. 

The  tails  of  all  whales  are   divided   into  two 


170     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

flukes.  The  length  of  the  largest,  as  measured 
fore  and  aft,  is  from  six  to  eight  feet,  while  the 
breadth  across  both  is  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet. 
These  figures  have  a  special  interest  when  it  is 
known  that  many  a  venturesome  whaler  has 
driven  his  boat  in  under  the  rising  flukes,  to  a 
place  where  nearly  a  hundred  square  feet  of  that 
most  deadly  weapon  rose  above  him. 

It  is  said  that  the  right  whale  received  its  name 
through  the  custom  of  the  early  European  whalers 
in  speaking  of  it  as  the  right  kind  to  capture. 
The  sperm  whales  were  not  pursued  in  the  early 
days,  apparently.  Whales  that  produced  plenty  of 
oil  and  bone  were  the  "right"  whales  to  capture. 
In  time,  however,  it  was  observed  that  there 
were  several  kinds  of  oil-and-bone  whales.  The 
early  whaler  explorers  who  went  hunting  along 
the  polar  ice  found  one  that  they  named  bow- 
head,  from  the  shape  of  the  head  as  seen  above 
water.  Another  whale  was  named  humpback 
because  of  the  shape  of  its  back.  It  was  noted 
that  the  humpback  had  folds  of  skin  under  its 
chin,  and  that  its  fins  were  of  extraordinary 
length.  An  examination  of  the  records  of 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      171 

the  fishery  for  the  oil-and-bone  whales  shows 
that  the  whalers  did  not  always  distinguish  be- 
tween the  varieties.  A  table  in  Whales  and 
Porpoises  says  that  Captain  Devot,  of  New  Bed- 
ford, killed  a  right  whale  off  Kadiak  that  yielded 
290  barrels  of  oil.  Captain  Wood  took  one 
that  gave  280  barrels,  while  Captain  Winston 
got  one  of  270  barrels.  The  average  yield  of 
whales  taken  on  the  North  Pacific  ground  (The 
Whale  Fishery,  p.  17)  is  or  was  "about  125 
barrels  each."  It  is  the  bowhead  whale  that 
raises  the  average  yield  to  this  figure,  and  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  the  enormous  yields  recorded 
above  were  from  this  variety  of  the  right  whale. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  while  bowheads 
yield  so  much  oil,  they  are  never  more  than  sixty- 
five  feet  long.  The  large  male  right  whales 
are  from  fifty-two  to  fifty-three  feet  long,  while 
the  females  are  from  fifty-four  to  fifty-seven  feet 
long. 

The  humpback  whale  is  still  smaller.  The 
record  yield  from  one  of  these  was  145  barrels, 
secured  in  1848,  from  a  humpback  killed  off 
Monterey,  California. 


172     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

While  the  records  do  not,  for  obvious  reasons, 
contain  the  weights  of  adult  whales,  fair  estimates 
have  been  made.  Scoresby  calculated  the  size 
or  displacement  of  an  Arctic  whale  at  81.5  cubic 
feet,  which  would  give  a  weight  of  about  114 
tons.  He  estimated  the  weight  of  an  ordinary 
large  right  whale  at  seventy  tons. 

The  horse-power  exerted  by  a  finback  whale 
in  propelling  itself  through  the  water  was  es- 
timated by  Sir  William  Turner,  Professor  of 
Anatomy  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  assisted 
by  Mr.  John  Henderson,  a  Glasgow  shipbuilder, 
in  1886.  A  whale  of  this  kind  was  stranded 
at  Longniddry.  It  was  80  feet  long,  its  estimated 
weight  was  74  tons,  and  the  tail  was  from  18  to 
20  feet  wide  across  the  broadest  parts.  To 
attain  a  speed  of  twelve  miles  an  hour,  for  whales 
of  this  kind  often  swim  at  that  rate,  required 
the  exercise  of  "a  propelling  force  of  145  horse- 
power." (Scientific  American,  March  5,  1887.) 

The  records  show  that  finbacks  120  feet  long 
have  been  killed.  Sulphur-bottom  whales  (so 
called  because  of  the  color  of  the  under  parts) 
reach  a  length  of  no  feet,  according  to  Thf 


Whales  as  the  Whalers   Knew  Them      173 

Whale  Fishery.  Dr.  James  H.  Weeks,  of  Ston- 
ington,  Connecticut,  in  a  series  of  articles  on 
A  Whale  ship's  History,  printed  in  the  Westerly, 
Rhode  Island,  Sun,  in  1900,  in  speaking  of  the 
sulphur-bottom  whale,  says : 

"Captain  Frederick  Smith  has  a  section  of 
a  backbone  taken  from  this  species  in  his  yard 
[on  Elm,  corner  of  Cutler  Street,  Stonington], 
[that]  was  taken  from  a  whale  which,  on  the 
beach,  measured  150  feet." 

Turning  again  to  the  life  habits  of  the  whales, 
consider  how  they  breathe.  The  sperm  whale 
comes  to  the  surface,  raises  its  head,  and  for 
three  seconds  expels  the  foul  air  from  its  lungs. 
The  exhaled  air  is  full  of  moisture,  and  when 
this  vapor  settles  on  human  skin  it  is  so  acrid 
as  to  create  pain.  Fresh  air  is  drawn  in  so 
rapidly  "that  hardly  an  instant  is  required." 
The  exhalation  and  inspiration,  or  the  "blow- 
ings," are  repeated  sixty  or  seventy  times  at  a 
rising,  the  whole  time  devoted  thus  to  renewing 
the  air  of  the  lungs  and  aerating  the  blood  being 
twelve  minutes  on  the  average.  Then  the  whale 
dips  its  head  under  water,  raises  its  tail  until 


174     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

it  stands  perpendicularly  on  its  head,  and  drops 
swiftly  down.  It  remains  out  of  sight,  pre- 
sumably searching  or  waiting  for  food,  for  an 
hour  or  an  hour  and  a  quarter. 

The  bowhead  whale,  found  along  the  Arctic 
ice,  when  undisturbed,  comes  to  the  surface, 
"spouts"  from  six  to  nine  times,  dips  down  and 
pursues  its  food  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes, 
and  then  comes  up  again. 

"They  will  go  on  in  this  way  feeding  for 
an  hour  or  more,"  said  Captain  Gray,  already 
quoted.  "After  that  they  will  disappear  under 
the  nearest  ice  and  sleep  there  until  they  come 
out  for  exercise  or  for  another  meal.  Unlike 
other  warm-blooded  animals  they  do  not  require 
to  breathe  through  their  nostrils  while  asleep, 
and  they  do  not  do  so.  Whales  can  sleep  as 
well  under  water  as  they  do  upon  the  surface, 
as  I  have  often  seen  them  disappear  under  solid 
ice  and  remain  there  for  many  hours  at  a  time. 
Sometimes  they  also  fall  asleep  with  their  heads 
down  and  only  their  tails  out  of  water." 

It  is  apparent  from  this  that  when  sleeping 
these  whales  do  not  inhale  any  air.  Captain 
Gray  continues: 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      175 

"Like  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  sea,  whales 
are  affected  by  the  tides,  being  most  numerous 
at  the  full  and  change  of  the  moon,  beginning 
to  appear  three  days  before  and  disappearing 
entirely  three  days  after  the  change.  Often 
this  will  go  on  for  months  with  the  utmost 
regularity,  unless  some  great  change  in  the  ice 
takes  place.  No  doubt  whales  are  seen  and 
often  taken  during  any  time  of  the  tides;  but  if 
a  herd  is  hunted  systematically,  and  they  are 
attached  to  a  particular  feeding  bank,  this  is 
their  usual  habit.  Neither  can  this  peculiarity 
in  their  habits  be  easily  accounted  for;  their 
food  is  as  abundant  during  the  neap  as  it  is  in 
the  spring  tides." 

Davis,  previously  quoted,  notes  a  similar  pecul- 
iarity in  connection  with  the  sperm  whale  fishery 
of  the  Pacific.  He  says : 

"The  length  of  time  that  a  whale  can  remain 
under  the  surface  is  probably  much  greater  than 
has  hitherto  been  allowed.  Sometimes,  notably 
during  the  full  of  the  moon,  the  whales  abound 
over  the  feeding  ground,  and  many  are  taken. 
But  the  busy  season  is  followed  by  a  period  of 


176     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

two  weeks  or  more  during  which  none  will  be 
visible.  Vessels  will  be  spoken  from  all  points 
of  the  compass,  and  to  the  question,  'Have  you 
seen  any  whales  ?'  the  answer  will  be,  'Not 
for  a  week  or  ten  days.'  The  busy  and  dull 
seasons  alternate  uniformly  over  an  area  of  600 
miles  north  and  south  by  goo  miles  east  and  west. 
Bull  whales  often  appear  as  though  they  have 
been  reposing  on  a  muddy  bottom,  and  off  the 
coast  of  New  Zealand  they  have  been  seen  with 
such  barnacles  on  their  lower  jaws  as  are  found 
on  a  ship's  bottom." 

The  brief  length  of  time  that  whales  are  away 
from  their  feeding  grounds,  as  described  by  Gray 
and  Davis,  forbids  the  idea  that  they  migrate, 
during  that  interval,  to  other  feeding  grounds ; 
for  there  are  no  other  grounds  within  reach. 
The  only  explanation  of  their  disappearance 
that  seems  reasonable  is  found  in  the  hibernat- 
ing habit. 

In  connection  with  this  idea  of  whale  hiberna- 
tion it  is  interesting  to  note  a  peculiarity  of  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood  in  the  whale.  The  amount 
of  blood  in  an  adult  is,  of  course,  enormous. 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      177 

The  main  artery  leading  from  the  heart  is  a 
foot  in  diameter.  The  lungs  are  of  corresponding 
capacity.  When  the  blood  flows  purified  from 
the  lungs  it  does  not  go  directly  into  the  circu- 
lation, as  in  other  animals,  but  into  a  cellular 
reservoir  (called  an  arterial  plexus,  by  one  writer), 
and  there  it  is  stored  uncontaminated,  to  be  drawn 
into  circulation  as  needed.  It  is  agreed  among 
scientific  writers  who  have  described  the  whale 
that  in  this  storage  reservoir  (so  to  speak)  of 
aerated  blood  is  found  the  explanation  of  the 
ability  of  the  whale  to  remain  under  water,  even 
when  wounded,  for  more  than  an  hour.  The 
bottle-nose  whale  (a  small  member  of  the  sperm 
family)  remains  under  for  more  than  two  hours, 
and  then  comes  to  the  surface  with  enough  speed 
to  carry  it  through  the  air  in  a  graceful  curve. 
Now,  in  connection  with  these  facts  about  the 
whale,  consider  the  condition  of  the  woodchuck, 
a  land  animal  that  has  no  storage  reservoir  of 
aerated  blood.  As  the  writer  has  observed, 
woodchucks  while  hibernating  have  been  known 
to  live  when  their  dens  were  entirely  under  water 
for  a  period  of  at  least  forty-eight  hours.  This 


178     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

long  submergence  had  no  injurious  effect  upon 
them  so  far  as  any  one  could  see,  for  they  were  as 
lively  as  ever  when  revived  by  the  return  of  spring. 
If  a  woodchuck,  having  no  reserve  of  aerated 
blood,  can  endure  submergence  for  such  a  length 
of  time,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that 
whales,  with  their  enormous  reserves  of  aerated 
blood,  might  sleep  under  water  for  periods  at 
least  as  long  as  those  during  which  they  disappear 
from  their  feeding  grounds. 

Most  remarkable,  and  perhaps  unexplained, 
is  the  ability  of  the  whales  of  a  school  to  com- 
municate with  each  other.  In  The  Whale  Fish- 
ery (p.  266)  is  the  following: 

"  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  as  soon  as  a  whale 
is  harpooned  the  news  is  telegraphed  through 
some  invisible  agency  to  others  of  the  same  species, 
though  at  a  great  distance;  a  general  stampede 
ensues,  and  with  noses  in  the  air  they  all  rush 
to  windward." 

Bennett,  the  author  of  A  Whaling  Voyage 
Around  the  Globe,  says  in  regard  to  this  habit: 

"It  is  a  confirmed  fact,  and  one  often  noticed 
by  southern  whalers,  that  upon  a  cachelot  being 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      179 

struck  from  a  boat  others  many  miles  distant 
from  the  spot  will  almost  instantaneously  ex- 
press by  their  action  an  apparent  consciousness 
of  what  has  occurred,  or  at  least  of  some  untoward 
event,  and  either  make  off  in  alarm,  or  come 
down  to  the  assistance  of  their  injured  companion. 
But  without  attributing  to  the  cachelot  an  ex- 
traordinary acuteness  of  sight  or  hearing,  or  any 
more  mysterious  sensibility,  we  may  perhaps 
find  that  the  violent  agitations  of  the  sea  produced 
by  the  plunges  of  the  harpooned  whale,  and  the 
more  rapid  and  distinct  conveyance  of  sound 
in  water  than  in  air,  are  sufficient  to  account 
for  the  above  phenomenon." 

Other  observers  have  declared  that  distant 
whales  have  been  alarmed  when  the  stricken 
whale  made  no  excessive  noise  or  unusual  dis- 
turbance in  the  water,  and  that  the  alarm  was 
conveyed  to  windward  as  well  as  to  leeward. 
Thus  Davis  says: 

"It  is  commonly  conceded  that  whales  have 
a  mysterious  power  of  communicating  with  each 
other,  and  instances  are  mentioned  which,  if 
trustworthy,  afford  the  strongest  proof  possible. 


i8o     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Stationed  at  the  mastheads  of  their  vessels  captains 
have  observed  that  when  their  boats  were  attack- 
ing a  whale  to  leeward  a  school  several  miles  to 
windward,  and  out  of  sight  of  the  combatants, 
would  show  signs  of  alarm  and  retreat  the  moment 
the  first  blow  of  the  harpoon  was  struck.  Sound 
was  not  the  means  of  communication,  as  the 
distance  was  too  great,  and  furthermore  it  is 
a  well  ascertained  fact  that  whales  only  signal 
by  sound  in  the  practice  of  'lob-tailing.'  In 
'lob-tailing'  the  whale  rises  perpendicularly  in 
the  water  with  its  head  downward.  Thus  poised 
it  will  swing  from  side  to  side  sweeping  a  radius 
of  thirty  feet  with  awful  violence.  The  con- 
cussions of  its  tail  with  the  water  may  be  heard 
for  many  miles,  while  the  sea  is  a  mass  of  foam, 
and  the  air  is  filled  with  spray.  The  practice 
is  supposed  to  be  intended  for  amusement, 
but  it  is  also  a  tocsin." 

"The  instant  one  is  attacked  every  whale  for 
miles  around  springs  up,  shoots  his  head  out  of 
water  and  listens,"  says  another  observer.  In 
connection  with  this  unexplained  method  of 
communication  one  should  remember  the  habit 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      181 

of  the  whale,  brought  down  from  the  time  when  it 
lived  alongshore,  of  rising  up  with  head  far  above 
the  water,  as  a  woodchuck  rises  on  the  land  to 
look  for  danger. 

It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  undisturbed  schools, 
while  spread  out  and  while  playing  over  several 
square  miles  of  the  seas,  will  suddenly,  and  as 
if  answering  a  signal,  all  throw  their  tails  into 
the  air  and  instantly  and  together  disappear  under 
water.  No  trained  soldiers  ever  stepped  together 
with  greater  precision  than  is  shown  by  schools 
of  whales  in  this  evolution. 

Do  whales  have  vocal  cords  ?  Can  they  sing 
and  roar  ?  Manifestly  the  men  who  know  the 
whales  best  think  so. 

Herbert  L.  Aldrich,  author  of  Arctic  Alaska 
and  Siberia,  in  describing  his  experiences  in  an 
Arctic  whaler,  says : 

"One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  [gamming] 
yarns  was  that  about  the  singing  whales.  When 
I  first  heard  it  I  took  it  for  a  joke,  intended  for 
me  to  bite  at.  But  one  day  there  was  a  rehearsing 
of  experiences  and  I  found  that  the  ship  masters 
really  believed  that  whales  do  sing.  Captain 


182     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Kelley,  of  the  brig  Eliza,  was  the  first  to  discover 
this  singing,  but  he  was  laughed  at  for  it.  In 
1882  several  ships  lay  at  anchor  under  Indian 
Point.  As  usual  the  masters  got  together  and 
in  the  midst  of  their  conversation  Captain  Kelley 
broke  in:  'There's  a  bowhead!'  Everybody 
laughed  about  *  Kelley's  band,'  but  he  insisted 
that  whales  were  near  by  and  he  was  going  to 
give  chase.  One  master  suggested  that  it  was 
the  copper  on  the  ship,  another  that  it  was  seals, 
another  that  it  was  the  ice,  and  so  on.  But 
when  Captain  Kelley  took  up  anchor  and  set 
sail  every  ship  followed  him.  One  whale  was 
caught.  Soon  more  singing  was  heard.  The 
result  was  the  capture  of  several  whales.  After 
having  attention  thus  forcibly  called  to  the  sing- 
ing it  was  not  long  before  the  masters  were  on 
the  lookout  for  it.  It  is  inferred  that  it  is  a  sort 
of  call  or  signal  for  whales,  when  making  a  pas- 
sage through  Bering  Sea,  to  notify  each  other 
that  they  are  bound  north,  and  perhaps  that 
the  straits  are  clear  of  ice. 

"While    Captain    Wm.    H.    Kelley    was    right 
whaling   in  the  Japan  Sea   in    1881    he   put  his 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      183 

ear  to  the  line  and  heard  the  whale  that  he  had 
struck  give  a  deep,  heavy,  agonizing  groan,  like 
that  of  a  person  in  pain.  It  had  been  known 
for  a  long  time  that  humpback  whales,  black 
fish,  devil  fish  and  other  species  of  whales  sing, 
and  that  walruses  and  seals  bark  under  water, 
and  it  is  believed  that  all  animals  having  lungs 
and  living  in  the  water,  as  these  do,  have  their 
own  peculiar  cry,  or  as  whalemen  express  it, 
'sing.'  Whenever  a  whale  is  struck  by  a  harpoon 
it  is  noticed  from  the  masthead  that  every  whale 
in  sight  is  'gallied,'  that  is,  frightened.  Usually 
they  disappear,  but  occasionally  they  simply 
jump,  then  settle  back  quietly  to  feeding  or 
whatever  they  may  be  doing.  It  is  particularly 
true  that  sperm  whales  take  fright  when  one  of 
their  number  is  struck.  No  reason  has  ever  been 
assigned  for  this  sudden  signal  of  danger  except 
this  'singing'  theory.  It  is  believed  that  when 
a  whale  is  struck  its  cry  of  pain  is  heard  by 
every  other  whale  in  sight  from  aloft. 

"In  January,  1887,  one  of  the  Eliza  s  boats 
struck  a  sperm  whale  and  instantly  the  whole 
school,  which  was  three  miles  or  more  off,  started 


184     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

for  their  wounded  companion,  and  circling  about 
it  huddled  as  if  to  ask,  'What's  the  matter?' 
With  bowhead  whales  the  cry  is  something  like 
the  hoo-oo-oo  of  the  hoot  owl,  although  longer 
drawn  out  and  more  of  a  humming  sound  than 
a  hoot.  Beginning  on  F  the  tone  may  rise  to  G, 
A,  B,  and  sometimes  to  C  before  slanting  back 
to  F  again.  With  the  humpback  whale  the  tone 
is  much  finer,  often  sounding  something  like  the 
E  string  of  a  violin." 

On  page  212  of  Goode's  The  Whale  Fishery  is 
the  following: 

"Sperm  whales  travel  the  seas  in  great  herds, 
from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred,  and  they 
are  said  to  acknowledge  a  leader,  who  swims 
in  advance  and  gives  the  signal  of  combat  or 
flight  by  uttering  a  peculiar  roar." 

In  Notes  on  the  Challenger  by  H.  N.  Mosely, 
it  is  said  regarding  the  "singing"  of  the  southern 
"finners, "  "The  expiratory  sound  is  very  loud 
when  heard  close  by,  and  is  a  sort  of  deep  bass 
snort,  extremely  long,  loud  and  somewhat  pro- 
longed; it  might  even  be  compared  to  the  sound 
produced  by  the  rushing  of  steam  at  high  pressure 
from  a  large  pipe." 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      185 

A  description  of  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  whales 
should  prove  interesting  in  connection  with  what 
has  been  written  about  the  whale's  powers  of 
communication.  While  the  eye  socket  in  the 
skeleton  of  a  whale  might  lead  one  to  suppose 
that  the  eye  is  of  a  size  somewhat  in  proportion 
to  the  bulk  of  the  animal,  this  organ  is  in  fact 
small.  Herman  Melville,  in  Moby  Dick,  compares 
the  eyes  of  a  full-grown  sperm  whale  to  those 
of  a  colt.  Moby  Dick  is  a  novel,  but  Melville's 
descriptions  of  whales  and  whaling  are  accepted 
at  New  Bedford.  The  eyes  of  all  whales  are 
located  far  aft  and  well  down  near  the  angle 
of  the  jaw.  The  whale,  therefore,  has  an  ex- 
tremely limited  field  of  vision.  Melville  says 
that  each  eye  covers  no  more  than  "some  thirty 
degrees  of  vision  in  advance  of  the  straight  side- 
line of  sight;  and  about  thirty  more  behind  it." 
That  the  whale's  eyes  unite  to  portray  a  single 
field  of  view  upon  the  brain,  as  the  eyes  of  a 
man  do,  is  of  course  impossible.  It  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  whale  ordinarily  sees  and 
comprehends  two  distinct  fields  of  vision.  When 
he  raises  his  head  perpendicularly  out  of  water 


i86     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  revolves  slowly  around  to  gaze  in  all  directions, 
he  is  confirming  his  previous  impressions  as  well 
as  exploring  new  fields.  When  attacked  without 
previous  warning  the  unfortunate  animal  is,  of 
course,  too  badly  startled  to  take  a  survey  of  the 
whole  face  of  the  sea,  but  it  may  —  it  frequently 
does,  in  fact  —  see  an  enemy  in  each  of  its  fields 
of  vision,  while  at  times  more  than  one  is  seen 
in  each.  It  is  thus  that  the  whale  is  "gallied," 
according  to  Melville,  who  says : 

"It  may  be  an  idle  whim,  but  it  has  always 
seemed  to  me  that  the  extraordinary  vacillations  of 
movement  displayed  by  some  whales  when  beset 
by  three  or  four  boats;  the  timidity  and  liability 
to  queer  frights  so  common  to  such  whales  —  I 
think  all  this  indirectly  proceeds  from  the  helpless 
perplexity  of  vision  volition  in  which  their  divided 
and  diametrically  opposite  powers  of  vision  must 
involve  them." 

Still  smaller  than  the  eye  is  the  ear  of  a  whale. 
The  external  opening  of  the  ear  in  the  sperm  is 
near  and  behind  the  eye,  "and  into  the  hole  itself 
you  can  hardly  insert  a  quill,  so  wondrously 
minute  is  it."  The  right  whale  ear  is  not  only 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      187 

small  but  it  has  no  external  opening,  being  cov- 
ered with  a  membrane. 

To  go  on  with  the  mysterious  and  unexplained 
characteristics  of  whales : 

"Another  peculiarity  of  the  whale,"  says  Davis, 
"is  the  'glip.'  When  the  sperm  whale  is  alarmed 
or  alert  against  pursuit,  it  emits,  on  going  down 
for  a  run  beneath  the  surface,  a  portion  of  oil  or 
its  equivalent,  which,  for  a  considerable  period 
of  time,  causes  a  smooth,  bright  surface  upon 
the  water.  This  is  termed  the  glip  or  wake. 
The  mystery  of  the  glip  is  in  a  real  or  supposed 
communication  between  this  smooth  spot  and 
the  whale  making  it.  Should  the  boatheader 
incautiously  pull  his  boat  into  this  glip  or  cross 
the  line  between  the  whale  and  his  glip,  the  effect 
will  be  to  gallic  the  animal." 

James  Templeman  Brown,  who  contributed 
a  large  portion  of  the  matter  found  in  Goode's 
The  Whole  Fishery,  after  quoting  the  above 
from  Davis,  says : 

"This  is  maintained  and  substantiated  by 
whalemen  generally."  He  also  says  (p.  261) 
that  the  right  whale  possesses  a  similar  power: 


188     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"An  officer  of  a  boat  never  follows  the  wake 
of  a  right  whale,  for  the  moment  the  boat  strikes 
the  'suds'  it  is  maintained  that  the  whale  is 
immediately  made  acquainted  with  the  fact 
through  some  unknown  agency  and  will  be  gallied 
without  fail,  and  soon  widen  the  distance  between 
itself  and  the  crew." 

Frank  Bullen  (Cruise  of  the  Cachelot),  in  de- 
scribing the  pursuit  of  the  first  whale  (a  sperm) 
struck  by  the  boat  in  which  he  pulled,  says  that 
as  they  approached  the  whale  the  boat  was  sud- 
denly stopped  and  allowed  to  drift. 

"Now  what's  the  matter,  I  thought,  when  to 
my  amazement  the  chief,  addressing  me,  said: 
'Wonder  why  we've  hauled  up,  don't  ye  ?'  'Yes, 
sir,  I  do/  said  I.  'Wall,'  said  he,  'the  fish  hev 
sounded,  and  ef  we  run  over  'em  we've  seen  the 
last  ov  'em.'" 

Curiously  interesting  is  the  ability  of  whales 
to  sink  swiftly  at  will.  When  the  whalers  ap- 
proach a  whale  they  drive  their  boat  in  forward 
of  the  flukes  until  it  lies  "wood  to  blackskin," 
—  in  contact,  or  nearly  so.  As  the  boat  is  about 
to  strike  the  whale  the  harpooner  throws  his 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      189 

weapon  into  the  whale's  body.  If  he  is  slow  in 
doing  so,  or  if  a  passing  wave  drops  the  boat 
unexpectedly  in  contact  with  the  whale  before 
the  harpoon  is  thrown,  the  whale  usually  sinks 
as  swiftly  as  if  it  were  a  mass  of  lead;  the  har- 
pooner  is  never  able  to  strike  his  weapon  into 
the  whale  after  it  has  thus  begun  to  sink. 

Captain  Davis  described  a  peculiarity  of  the 
right  whale  as  follows: 

"On  the  tip  of  the  upper  jaw  there  is  a  spot 
of  very  limited  extent  seemingly  as  sensitive  in 
feeling  as  the  antennae  of  an  insect.  However 
swiftly  the  right  whale  may  be  advancing  on 
the  boat,  a  slight  prick  on  this  point  will  arrest 
his  forward  motion  at  once.  I  think  it  safe  to 
say  he  will  not  advance  a  single  yard  after  the 
prick  is  given.  He  will  either  pitch  his  head 
and  round  down  like  a  great  wheel  turning  on 
a  fixed  axis,  or  he  will  turn  shortly  to  the  right 
or  left  according  to  the  part  of  the  nose  which 
is  pricked.  Sometimes  he  will  throw  his  enormous 
head  straight  into  the  air  and  settle  backward 
tail  first,  by  this  motion  exposing  his  whole  throat 
to  the  thrust  of  the  harpoon  or  lance;  he  may 


igo     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

take  any  course  save  the  one  directly  forward. 
.  .  .  And  it  is  also  endowed  with  a  backing 
power  which  is  simply  marvellous  when  we  con- 
sider the  enormous  weight  moving  forward  with 
great  speed." 

It  is  told  of  the  whale  of  the  northwest  coast 
that  it  "practises  a  ruse  de  guerre  by  hollowing 
its  back,  causing  the  blubber  to  become  loose 
or  *  slack/  as  <t  is  termed,  and  preventing  the 
harpoons  from  entering.  Many  a  boat  steerer 
has  been  dismayed  by  this  manoeuvre,  and  al- 
though the  harpoon  may  have  been  thrown 
with  all  the  force  that  could  be  summoned,  the 
impetus  was  inadequate  to  penetrate  the  relaxed 
blubber  and  flesh."  (The  Whale  Fishery.) 

Whales  are  gregarious  and  gather  in  vast  schools, 
as  noted  especially  when  migrating;  that  is  to 
say,  they  did  so  in  the  days  when  there  were 
enough  whales  to  form  such  schools.  In  estimat- 
ing the  number  of  California  gray  whales  seen 
along  the  Pacific  coast  in  the  migrating  season, 
Scammon  says  (Marine  Mammals  of  the  North- 
west Coast) :  "  It  has  been  estimated  approx- 
imately by  observing  men  among  the  shore 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them     191 

whaling  parties  that  a  thousand  whales  passed 
southward  daily  from  the  I5th  of  December 
to  the  first  of  February  for  several  successive 
seasons  after  shore  whaling  was  established 
[1851].  .  .  .  Accepting  this  number  without  al- 
lowing for  those  which  passed  offshore  out  of 
sight  from  the  land,  or  for  those  which  passed 
before  the  I5th  of  December  or  after  the  1st  of 
February,  the  aggregate  would  be  47,000." 

Sperm  whales  were  often  seen  in  schools  esti- 
mated in  the  thousands  in  the  early  days.  Dr. 
Thomas  Beale  (Natural  History  of  the  Sperm 
Whale]  says:  "I  have  seen  in  one  school  as 
many  as  five  or  six  hundred."  That  was  written 
in  1839,  at  a  time  when  whale  ships  by  the 
hundred  had  scoured  the  Pacific  for  more  than 
twenty  years  and  had  greatly  reduced  the  num- 
ber of  whales  on  the  grounds  visited  by  Dr. 
Beale. 

The  largest  schools  of  sperm  whales  were  com- 
posed of  females  and  their  young,  with  from  one 
to  three  stalwart  males  in  company,  which  were 
known  to  the  whalers  as  "schoolmasters."  Like 
land  animals  of  similar  habit,  these  lordly  bulls 


192     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

secured  and  maintained  their  positions  by  good 
fighting,  and  their  aggressive  character  was  fre- 
quently shown  toward  the  whalers  as  well  as 
toward  venturesome  individuals  of  their  own 
kind. 

The  younger  and  smaller  bulls  —  thirty-barrel 
whales  —  also  went  in  schools  which  were  not 
usually  found  near  the  larger  schools  of  females. 
Then  as  the  whalers  cruised  to  and  fro,  they 
encountered  big  bulls,  old  and  gray,  that  were 
swimming  solitary  and  alone,  though  two  were 
seen,  now  and  then,  heading  the  same  course 
but  at  some  distance  from  each  other.  These 
old  bulls  invariably  showed  the  scars  of  battle, 
for  they  had  been  driven  from  the  schools  of 
females  by  younger  and  more  vigorous  fighters. 

"Whenever  a  lone  whale  meets  with  a  drove 
[of  females]  he  forthwith  turns  upon  the  male 
of  the  group  and  gives  him  battle,"  said  the 
New  Bedford  Gazette,  in  1837.  "Their  manner 
of  fighting  is  bold  and  destructive.  They  run 
backward  from  each  other  several  rods  and  then 
rapidly  advance,  their  great  square  heads  meet- 
ing with  dreadful  suddenness.  The  scene  [of 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      193 

a  combat  of  the  kind  as  described  to  the  editor] 
was  one  of  awful  display.  The  two  monsters, 
being  among  the  largest  of  their  species,  advanced 
upon  each  other  with  their  jaws,  which  measured 
sixteen  feet  in  length,  widely  extended,  exhibit- 
ing huge  rows  of  great  teeth,  and  presenting  the 
most  ferocious  appearance.  They  cleaved  much 
of  the  flesh  from  each  other's  heads  and  left 
deep  marks  of  their  teeth  in  other  parts.  In 
the  affray  one  of  them  had  his  jaw  slewed  around 
and  many  of  his  teeth  stove  out,  while  the  jaw 
of  the  other  was  broken  off  so  that  it  hung  to 
the  head  only  by  the  flesh.  It  is  said  that  these 
battles  are  not  uncommon;  and  the  conqueror 
always  joins  the  drove  of  females  and  continues 
the  cruise." 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  when  whales  with 
crooked  jaws  were  killed  by  the  whalers  they 
were  found  to  be  as  well  nourished  usually  as 
the  uncrippled  whales;  though  Bullen  notes 
three  such  whales,  killed  during  his  cruise,  that 
were  all  "dry  skins."  How  they  could  secure 
their  food  when  the  lower  jaw  for  a  part  of  its 
length  could  not  be  closed  against  the  upper 


194     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

jaw  was  a  puzzling  question,  until  son:  con- 
sideration was  given  to  the  feeding  habits  v^H- 
servation  convinced  the  whalers  that  the  speim 
whale  lived  chiefly  on  the  sepia  octopus,  the  huge 
eight-armed  creature  that  seamen  called  the 
giant  squid.  When  in  their  death  flurry,  sperm 
whales  often  throw  up  the  contents  of  their 
stomachs.  Pieces  of  sharks  and  other  kinds  of 
fish  have  been  ejected  at  such  times,  but  pieces 
of  the  arms  of  this  octopus  were  usually  seen 
to  the  exclusion  of  other  matter.  As  all  fisher- 
men know,  the  squid  is  attracted  to  any  shining 
substance,  —  like  a  metal  plate,  for  instance,  that 
is  lowered  into  the  water.  Now  the  mouth  of 
the  sperm  whale  is  lined  with  a  satinlike  mem- 
brane that  glistens  with  a  metallic  lustre  when 
exposed  under  water.  Undisturbed  whales  have 
often  been  seen  lying  at  or  near  the  surface  with 
their  lower  jaws  hanging  down  so  that  the  inside 
of  the  mouth  was  plainly  visible.  Taking  all 
these  facts  together,  the  whalemen  came  to  be- 
lieve that  the  sperm  whales  go  into  the  depths 
where  the  giant  squid  usually  passes  its  life, 
and  when  there  lie  motionless  with  their  mouths 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      195 

open.  On  seeing  the  white  lining  of  the  whale's 
mouth  the  squid,  either  from  curiosity  or  in 
the  pursuit  of  what  it  supposes  is  food,  swims 
into  the  very  jaws  of  its  enemy.  Thus  even 
a  whale  with  but  a  part  of  a  jaw  might  secure 
prey.  In  support  of  this  belief  is  the  fact  that 
blind  whales  (a  fungous  disease  sometimes  blinds 
the  sperm  whale)  have  been  taken  that  gave 
as  much  blubber  as  one  in  perfect  condition. 
The  sperm  whale  should  therefore  be  called  a 
trapper  rather  than  a  hunter. 

The  brain  of  the  whale  is  but  a  small  bit  of 
gray  matter,  if  its  size  is  compared  with  the  bulk 
of  its  body.  The  skull  of  the  larger  sperm  whale 
measures  more  than  twenty  feet  in  length.  It 
is  wedge-shaped  with  the  edge  of  the  wedge  for- 
ward. The  huge  forehead  that  towers  so  high 
above  the  water  is  composed  chiefly  of  flesh, 
gristle,  and  oil.  Low  down  in  the  rear  end  of 
this  huge  skull  is  a  cavity  "seldom  exceeding  ten 
inches  in  length  and  as  many  in  depth"  that 
holds  the  brain. 

A  small  brain  may  be  exceedingly  active, 
however,  and  all  whalers  are  agreed  that  some 


ig6     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

whales  are  more  intelligent  than  others,  and  that 
the  more  intelligent  ones  sometimes  show  as- 
tonishing mental  activity. 

Of  the  mental  characteristics  of  the  whale 
it  is  noted  first  of  all  that  the  mother  sperm 
(for  example)  shows  a  strong  affection  for  her 
young.  That  the  bowhead  mother  is  seldom 
seen  with  her  young  nowadays  is  one  of  the 
curious  facts  of  whale  life,  and  whalers  sup- 
pose that  the  young  are  brought  forth  under 
the  polar  ice  and  are  kept  there  until  large  enough 
for  weaning.  When  the  whalers  find  a  mother 
sperm  whale  and  her  young,  they  attack  the  young 
one  first,  if  possible,  knowing  well  that  the  mother 
will  not  desert  it,  and  they  will  be  able  to  secure 
her  after  killing  the  smaller  one.  The  distress 
of  the  mother  at  such  a  time  is  manifest. 

"But  for  all  the  notice  taken  by  the  whale 
she  might  never  have  been  struck,"  says  Bullen 
in  describing  an  attack  upon  a  mother  whale 
with  a  calf  by  her  side.  "Close  nestled  to  her 
side  was  a  youngling  of  not  more,  certainly, 
than  five  days  old,  which  sent  its  baby  spout 
every  now  and  then  about  two  feet  into  the  air. 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      197 

One  long  winglike  fin  embraced  its  small  body 
holding  it  close  to  the  massive  breast  of  the  ten- 
der mother,  whose  only  care  seemed  to  be  to 
protect  her  young,  utterly  regardless  of  her  own 
pain  and  danger.  .  .  .  While  the  calf  con- 
tinually sought  to  escape  from  the  enfolding 
fin,  making  alt  sorts  of  puny  struggles  in  the 
attempt,  the  mother  scarcely  moved  from  her 
position,  although  streaming  with  blood  from 
a  score  of  wounds.  Once,  indeed,  as  a  deep- 
searching  thrust  entered  her  very  vitals,  she  raised 
her  massy  flukes  high  in  air  with  an  apparently 
involuntary  movement  of  agony;  but  even  in 
that  dire  throe  she  remembered  the  possible 
danger  to  her  young  one  and  laid  the  tre- 
mendous weapon  as  softly  down  upon  the  water 
as  if  it  were  a  feather  fan.  So  in  the  most  per- 
fect quiet,  with  scarcely  a  writhe,  nor  any  sign  of 
flurry,  she  died,  holding  the  calf  to  her  side  until 
the  last  vital  spark  had  fled,  and  left  it  to  a  swift 
despatch  with  a  single  lance  thrust." 

Many  a  mother  whale  has  been  killed  while  thus 
striving  to  shield  her  young,  for  the  whaler  has 
the  same  contempt  for  sentiment  that  is  shown 
by  the  butchers  of  wild  animals  on  land. 


198     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  females  almost  always  show  sympathy 
when  one  of  their  companions  is  attacked.  They 
gather  around  the  stricken  one  and  act,  the  whalers 
say,  as  if  anxious  to  render  assistance.  Through 
this  habit  the  whalers  have  often  secured  two 
or  three  from  a  school  of  females.  The  cow 
whales  also  remain  with  their  male  companions 
in  spite  of  danger.  The  first  whale  that  Frank 
Bullen  struck,  he  says,  was  a  big  bull  that  had 
a  cow  of  small  size  for  a  companion.  The  cow 
followed  the  bull  as  it  fled  for  life,  and  finally, 
after  it  was  lanced  mortally,  she  sounded  with 
it.  In  due  time  the  bull  came  up  to  the  surface 
and  died.  Then  Bullen  found  that  his  har- 
poons had  been  withdrawn  from  the  dead  bull, 
and  yet  the  harpoon  line  was  fast  to  something. 
Finally  the  cow  came  up  much  exhausted  and 
it  was  easily  killed.  An  examination  cf  her 
carcass  showed  that  the  harpoon  line  was  en- 
tangled with  her  teeth,  "as  if  she  had  tried  to 
bite  in  two  the  rope  that  held  her  consort,"  says 
Bullen,  "  and  only  succeeded  in  sharing  his  fate. 
I  would  not  like  to  say  that  whales  do  not  try 
to  thus  sever  a  line." 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them      199 

Young  bulls,  however,  are  animated  by  no 
such  feeling.  The  moment  one  of  their  number 
is  attacked  they  stick  their  heads  into  the  air 
and  seek  a  far  country  with  all  the  speed  they 
can  command.  It  is  a  smart  crew  that  gets 
more  than  one  out  of  a  "pod"  of  bulls. 

That  whales  learn  by  experience,  and  very 
rapidly  at  times,  is  well  known  to  all  whalers. 
The  bowheads  have  long  since  learned  that  a 
ship  is  dangerous  company,  and  they  always 
feed  near  the  ice. 

"  Persecution  has  made  them  shy  and  instead 
of  roaming  at  large  the  whales  only  feed  along 
the  ice  fringe  where  they  can  bolt  to  cover  beneath 
the  ice  if  attacked,"  says  Captain  Gray.  "Now- 
adays whales  are  like  rats  or  rabbits,  never  to 
be  found  far  from  their  holes,  particularly  since 
the  introduction  of  steam;  they  will  never  lie 
on  banks  where  there  is  not  sufficient  ice  to 
shelter  them." 

An  incident  of  interest  in  any  study  of  the 
mental  characteristics  of  whales  is  an  account 
of  a  chase  of  a  couple  of  humpbacks  as  given  in 
Bullen's  book: 


2OO     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"  For  a  couple  of  days  we  met  with  no  success, 
although  we  had  a  very  aggravating  chase  after 
some  smart  bulls  we  fell  in  with.  .  .  .  They 
went  away  gayly  along  the  land,  not  attempting 
to  get  seaward,  we  straining  every  nerve  to  get 
alongside  of  them.  Whether  they  were  tantaliz- 
ing us  or  not  I  cannot  say,  but  it  certainly  looked 
like  it.  In  spite  of  their  well-known  speed  we 
were  several  times  so  close  in  their  wake  that 
the  harpooners  loosed  the  tacks  of  the  jibs  to 
get  a  clear  shot;  but  as  they  did  so  the  nimble 
monsters  shot  ahead  a  length  or  two,  leaving 
us  just  out  of  reach.  It  was  a  fine  chase  while 
it  lasted,  though  annoying;  yet  one  could  hardly 
help  feeling  amused  at  the  way  they  wallowed 
along.  ...  At  last  after  nearly  two  hours  of 
fun  they  seemed  to  have  had  enough  of  it,  and 
with  one  accord  headed  seaward  at  a  greatly 
accelerated  pace,  as  who  should  say,  'Well, 
s'long,  boys.'  ...  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
they  were  out  of  sight." 

The  stories  of  what  has  been  done  by  the  fight- 
ing whales  have  seemed  so  remarkable  that  a 
special  chapter  is  devoted  to  them.  Of  the 


Whales  as  the  Whalers  Knew  Them     201 

other  notable  characteristics  of  these  monstrous 
animals  but  one  remains  to  be  mentioned  here. 
Alert,  swift,  and  mighty,  some  whales  of  the 
fighting  kind  have  defied  for  years  the  ablest 
whalers  of  the  seven  seas.  With  each  successful 
resistance  to  attack  such  whales  have  seemed 
to  gain  in  skill,  and  to  increase  in  ferocity.  The 
name  of  "Moby  Dick,  the  White  Whale,"  was 
taken  from  a  fighting  whale  that  was  known  to 
all  whalers  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  as  Mocha  Dick.  Nevertheless  a  time 
came  when  a  whale  boat  paddled  up  unawares 
upon  even  the  mightiest  and  wisest  of  the  fighters. 
The  man  at  the  bow  was  so  skilful  or  so  fortu- 
nate that  he  drove  both  harpoons  "to  the  hitches" 
at  a  point  where  they,  in  part,  at  least,  paralyzed 
the  fighting  spirit  of  the  veteran.  The  mate 
then  hurried  forward,  and  before  the  animal 
had  recovered  enough  of  its  customary  strength  to 
turn  on  the  boat,  the  deadly  lance  was  plunged 
into  its  side,  and  its  "life"  was  reached.  Flinch- 
ing and  bellowing  under  the  intolerable  pain 
it  strove  to  fly,  but  the  convulsions  of  death 
soon  seized  upon  it.  In  wild  agony  it  flung  itself 


2O2     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

From  side  to  side,  while  the  clotted  blood  spouted 
high  from  its  spiracle  until  life  was  almost  gone. 
Then,  with  its  last  fleeting  strength,  it  swam 
feebly  in  a  circle  until  its  head  was  toward  the 
sun,  and  while  lying  thus  —  always  with  its 
head  toward  the  sun  —  it  turned  on  its  side, 
"  fin  out,"  and  died. 


IX 
HARPOONS,  LANCES,  GUNS,  AND  BOATS 

THE  earliest  records  of  civilized  whaling 
show  that  the  harpoons  then  used  were 
barbed  spears  something  like  those  used 
by  the  aborigines,  but  pointed  with  iron  or  steel 
instead  of  stone  or  bone.  A  long  line  was  at- 
tached to  the  harpoon,  and  by  it  the  whale  boat 
was  kept  connected  with  the  whale  into  which 
the  harpoon  had  been  thrust,  unless,  indeed, 
the  whale  sounded,  or  dived,  to  a  depth  beyond 
the  length  of  the  line  or  in  some  way  broke  loose. 
When  the  wounded  whale  fled  along  the  surface, 
the  civilized  whalers  from  the  earliest  times 
always  strove  to  haul  in  on  the  line,  until  the 
boat  was  brought  near  enough  to  enable  one 
of  the  crew  to  thrust  a  lance  into  the  animal. 
The  lance  was  simply  an  unbarbed  spear,  one 
that  could  be  thrust  in,  and  then  withdrawn 
and  thrust  again.  The  harpoon  and  lance  were 
ao3 


204     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

better  than  the  weapons  used  by  the  aborigines, 
chiefly  because  made  of  better  materials;  the 
form  was  not  materially  better.  The  civilized 
weapons  were,  in  fact,  evolved  from  those  used 
by  the  aborigines. 

The  white  men  also  used  the  aboriginal  drag 
on  certain  occasions.  When  the  whale  sounded 
so  deep  that  it  was  necessary  to  let  go  of  the  line, 
a  drag  (called  "drug,"  usually)  was  attached 
to  the  end  of  it  to  impede,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  progress  of  the  whale.  Indeed,  at  times 
"drugs"  have  been  fastened  to  the  line  at  inter- 
vals as  it  was  running  out.  These  drags  were 
made  of  heavy  plank. 

Even  in  the  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow  some  of 
the  white  whalers  have  followed  the  aborigines. 
A  letter  from  Captain  Neils  Juel,  a  whaler  of 
Bergen,  Norway,  to  Professor  Spencer  F.  Baird 
(September  22,  1884),  speaks  of  "the  manner 
in  which  the  fishermen"  of  Norway  "kill  the 
whale  by  means  of  arrows  and  cross-bow." 
"When  a  whale  enters  a  bay,"  he  says,  "the 
passage  is  barred  with  a  strong  net  and  the  whale 
is  shot.  They  let  him  go  for  two  or  three  days 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     205 

inside.  The  arrows  contain  no  poison,  but  later 
investigations  have  led  to  the  discovery  of  a 
peculiar  bacillus  that  lives  on  arrows  already 
used,  and  which  poisons  the  blood.  Old  arrows 
(of  iron)  are  only  esteemed,  and  now  we  know 
the  reason  why.  After  some  days  the  whale 
becomes  dying  and  is  despatched  with  knives 
and  harpoons." 

-**  Three  kinds  of  harpoons  have  been  popular 
among  American  whalemen.  One  with  two  barbs 
was  called  the  "two-flued  iron,"  another  with 
one  barb  the  "one-flued  iron,"  and  the  third 
was  the  toggle-iron.  The  points  and  barbs  of 
all  harpoons  were  made  of  steel  and  welded  to 
soft,  tough  iron  shanks,  except,  of  course,  in 
the  case  of  the  toggle-iron,  where  the  point  and 
barb  were  made  in  one  piece  that  was  secured 
to  the  shank  in  such  a  way  that  it  could  turn 
around  in  the  blubber,  as  the  Eskimo  toggle 
turned,  until  it  lay  across  the  end  of  the  shank. 
The  points  and  the  forward  or  cutting  edges 
of  the  barbs  were  always  tempered  and  then 
sharpened  to  a  razor  edge.  The  boat  steerers 
whetted  them  on  the  finest  hones  and  then 


206     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

finished  them  on  a  strop,  as  one  would  put  an 
edge  on  a  razor.  When  not  in  pursuit  of  whales 
it  was  a  common  practice  to  put  leather  shields 
over  the  cutting  parts  of  harpoons  and  lances. 

The  shank  of  the  harpoon  was  about  30  inches 
long.  The  toggle  of  a  toggle-iron  was  about 
six  inches  long.  At  the  upper  end  of  every 
shank  was  a  socket  into  which  a  six-foot  wooden 
handle  was  set.  A  hickory  sapling  with  the 
bark  on  was  much  liked  by  able  harpooners 
in  other  days,  because  the  bark  gave  a  good 
handhold.  A  short  piece  of  the  whale  line  was 
secured  to  the  shank  just  at  the  socket  by  turns 
called  hitches.  It  was  then  led  halfway  up  the 
handle,  and  fastened  there  at  two  points  by 
several  turns  of  stout  cord.  When  a  whaler 
said  that  a  harpoon  was  "in  to  the  hitches," 
he  meant  that  the  full  length  of  the  metal  part 
had  been  driven  in. 

Harpooners  who  had  special  pride  in  their 
work,  some  of  those,  for  instance,  who  wore  the 
chock  pin  as  a  badge  of  honor,  had  harpoons 
made  for  their  private  use.  Well-worn  horse- 
shoes and  horseshoe  nails  were  much  used  in 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     207 

forging  these  special  weapons,  and  razor  steel 
was  used  in  making  the  cutting  edges  and  points. 

The  first  toggle-iron  made  for  an  American 
whaler  was  forged  by  Lewis  Temple,  a  negro 
harpoon  maker  living  in  New  Bedford.  He 
introduced  it  in  the  year  1848,  and  it  has  been 
the  most  popular  harpoon  among  American 
whalemen  since  that  year.  (The  Whale  Fishery.) 

In  1850  Captain  C.  F.  Brown,  of  Warren, 
Rhode  Island,  invented  a  harpoon  that  had 
a  chisel-shaped  point.  The  sides  of  the  chisel 
were  not  sharpened  to  a  cutting  edge  and  the 
barbs  were  both  twisted  to  one  side  in  a  curve 
like  the  thread  of  a  screw.  The  forward  edges 
of  ordinary  harpoons  were  necessarily  sharp 
and  they  sometimes  cut  so  large  a  hole  in  the 
flesh  of  the  whale  that  the  harpoon  drew  out 
when  a  strain  was  brought  on  it.  The  curved, 
flangelike  barbs  of  the  chisel-pointed  harpoon, 
it  was  supposed,  would  engage  themselves  in 
uncut  flesh  when  a  strain  was  brought  on  the 
harpoon,  and  hold  under  all  circumstances.  The 
conservative  whalemen,  however,  never  took  a 
fancy  to  this  invention. 


208     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"I  have  seen  the  shanks  of  harpoons  that  have 
been  twisted  into  the  most  questionable  shapes 
by  the  actions  of  dying  whales;  some  had  com- 
plete circles  or  loops  bent  into  them,  and  none 
of  the  instruments  could  be  used  again  until 
forged  anew.  When  the  whale  is  towing  the  boat 
the  shanks  of  the  harpoons,  usually  the  portions 
known  as  the  necks,  are  sometimes  reduced  in 
diameter  by  tractile  force.  That  the  fibres  of 
cold  iron  can  be  drawn  out  in  this  manner  has 
been  doubted  by  sceptics,  but  it  does  not  seem 
improbable  to  persons  who  are  familiar  with  the 
ductility  of  metals,  or  with  the  great  strain  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  harpoon  when  a  boat  is  towed 
through  a  heavy  sea,  and  more  particularly 
when  a  harpoon  is  fastened  under  the  rib  of  a 
whale.  I  have  seen  very  interesting  specimens 
of  this  character,  and  in  the  fall  of  1882  I  sent 
three  stretched  harpoons  to  the  National  Museum. 
Sometimes  the  harpoon  breaks,  and  the  portion 
which  remains  in  the  whale  may  be  long  after- 
wards cut  out  by  the  crew  of  the  same  or  another 
vessel.  Owing  to  the  marks,  the  instrument 
may  be  easily  identified.  The  wound  becomes 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and   Boats     209 

cicatrized,  and  perhaps  after  many  years,  by 
attrition,  the  projecting  shank  may  be  worn  to 
a  mere  shred.  A  boat  steerer  belonging  to  the 
Ansel  Gibbs,  of  New  Bedford,  threw  his  harpoon 
into  a  bowhead  whale  in  Hudson  Bay,  and  sev- 
eral years  afterwards  the  Cornelius  Howland,  of 
New  Bedford,  captured  the  same  whale  in  the 
Arctic  regions  on  the  western  coast.  The  whale 
had  traversed  the  great  northwest  passage,  which 
is  yet  unknown  to  man,  and  carried  with  it  the 
harpoon,  which  was  branded  with  the  names 
of  the  Gibbs  and  of  the  blacksmith  [Jireh  Swift] 
who  made  it."  (James  Templeman  Brown,  in 
The  Whale  Fishery.) 

All  the  harpoons  belonging  to  every  whale 
ship  were  marked  with  names,  letters,  lines, 
dots,  etc.,  made  with  a  cold  chisel  in  such  a  way 
that  any  one  finding  a  harpoon  in  a  whale  could 
tell  not  only  what  ship  it  was  from,  but  also  the 
boat  from  which  it  was  thrown.  This  was  done 
because  of  the  whaler's  rule  of  the  chase  which 
said  that  "marked  craft  claims  the  fish,  so  long 
as  it  is  in  the  water,  dead  or  alive." 

The    Whale  Fishery   says   that    "the    books   of 


2io     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Mr.  James  Durbee,  the  veteran  harpoon  maker 
of  New  Bedford,  show  that  from  1828  to  1868 
he  made  and  sold  58,517  harpoons."  During 
that  long  period  there  were  from  eight  to  ten 
other  harpoon  makers  in  that  one  port,  and  all 
were  kept  busy. 

Every  whale  boat  that  was  lowered  carried 
two  "live"  harpoons, —  the  two  that  were  secured 
to  the  whale  line  ready  for  use.  One  of  these 
live  irons  was  fastened  to  the  end  of  the  whale 
line.  The  other  one  carried  a  short  line  the 
loose  end  of  which  was  looped  around  the  main 
line.  The  harpooner  threw  the  first  iron  into 
the  whale.  Then  he  picked  up  the  second  iron 
and  tried  to  throw  that  into  the  whale,  also.  If 
he  failed,  he  threw  it  overboard  to  get  it  out  of 
the  way;  for  if  jerked  over  by  the  plunging  whale, 
there  was  no  telling  what  damage  it  might  do 
as  it  was  going.  Thereafter  this  harpoon  rode 
on  the  main  line ;  it  was  usually  seen,  dragging  in 
the  water  just  under  the  bow  of  the  boat,  where 
it  justified  the  adjective  "live"  that  was  applied 
to  it. 

Besides   the   live   irons   each   boat   carried   two 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and   Boats     211 

or  three  spare  ones.  Each  ship  carried  from 
three  to  five  boats  ready  for  lowering  when  whales 
were  seen,  and  thus  from  twelve  to  twenty  har- 
poons were  carried  from  the  ship  whenever  boats 
were  lowered.  Of  course  every  ship  carried 
a  supply  of  spare  harpoons,  and  as  there  were 
hundreds  of  whale  ships  in  commission  all  the 
time,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  it  happened  that  many 
harpoons  were  made  during  the  period  mentioned 
above. 

•^"The  lance  was  composed  of  a  flat,  oval-shaped 
steel  blade,  sharp  as  a  razor,  welded  to  a  tough 
and  stiff  iron  shank  six  feet  long.  A  wooden 
handle  six  feet,  or  thereabouts  in  length,  was  in- 
serted in  a  socket  at  the  upper  end  of  the  shank. 
A  whale  line  a  few  fathoms  long  was  fastened 
to  the  lance.  As  the  whaleman  drew  in  near 
the  flying  whale  that  had  been  struck  by  a  har- 
poon, the  man  at  the  bow  darted  the  lance  at  the 
whale  even  when  it  were  not  possible  thus  to 
reach  a  vital  part;  for  every  wound  bled  freely 
and  weakened  the  animal  in  its  struggles.  At 
each  throw  the  lance  was  drawn  back  by  the 
line  for  another  dart,  until  finally  the  boat  was 


212     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

drawn  within  reach  of  the  shoulder,  when  the 
lance  was  thrust  into  the  whale's  vitals  and 
"churned"  up  and  down. 

Among  the  earlier  colonial  laws  that  now 
serve  to  amuse  the  student  of  history  was  one 
providing  a  penalty  for  every  instance  when  a 
whale  was  "foolishly  lanced  behind  ye  vitals." 

Another  weapon  used  in  the  earlier  part  of 
the  fishery  was  the  boat  spade.  It  consisted  of 
a  flat,  triangular,  chisel-like  blade,  five  or  six 
inches  wide  on  the  cutting  edge,  and  perhaps 
twice  as  long,  which  was  secured  to  a  six-foot 
handle  by  means  of  a  socket.  It  was  provided 
with  a  line  by  which  it  could  be  recovered  if 
dropped  overboard.  Nothing  ever  done  by 
American  whalemen  shows  the  reckless  courage 
of  the  race  as  well  as  the  use  of  the  boat  spade. 
For  when,  as  the  boat  was  drawn  in  alongside, 
the  man  in  the  bow  saw  the  whale  raise  its  tail 
in  air  for  a  dive,  he  slewed  the  boat  in  under 
the  uplifted  flukes  and  drove  the  spade  into  the 
root  of  the  tail  and  cut  off  so  many  of  the  tendons 
and  muscles  as  utterly  to  disable  the  monster. 

"There   is   one   case   on   record,"    says    James 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     213 

Templeman  Brown,  "that  has  come  under  my 
observation  when  an  officer  actually  unjointed 
the  flukes  by  a  tremendous  and  well-directed 
blow  of  the  spade.  The  whale  was  in  a  favor- 
able position,  the  uplifted  flukes  producing  a 
tension,  and  the  caudal  fin,  though  still  con- 
nected, hung  to  one  side." 

"Spading  flukes  is  one  of  the  lost  arts  of  the 
fishery,"  he  continues.  "  We  should  naturally 
chink  that  it  would  be  far  preferable  to  stand 
off  at  a  safe  distance  and  kill  the  huge  floundering 
cetacean  with  an  explosive  lance  fired  from  a 
gun.  .  .  .  Not  so  with  the  broad-chested,  white- 
haired  whalemen  of  the  old  school,  who  regard 
the  modern  gun  as  a  travesty  upon  their  fore- 
fathers." 

The  warp  in  the  early  days  was  made  of  fine 
hemp,  but  in  modern  days  the  manila  fibre 
has  been  preferred,  because  it  is  at  once  stronger 
and  more  pliable.  Says  Melville: 

"The  whale  line  is  only  two-thirds  of  an  inch 
in  thickness.  By  experiment  its  150  yarns  will 
each  sustain  a  weight  of  120  pounds;  so  that 
the  whole  rope  will  bear  a  strain  nearly  equal 
to  three  tons." 


214     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"The  whale  line  is  laid  in  Flemish  coils  [i.e. 
in  flat,  concentric  coils,  one  on  top  of  the  other], 
225  fathoms  in  the  large  tub  and  75  fathoms  in 
the  small  tub,  which  each  whale  boat  carries," 
says  The  Whale  Fishery.  "The  upper  and  lower 
ends  of  each  line  are  exposed  and  provided  with 
eye-splices  in  order  that  one  end  of  the  line  may 
be  made  fast  to  the  harpoon  and  the  other  end 
to  the  other  line  when  fast  to  a  whale.  Each 
boat  carries  300  fathoms  of  line,  and  if  a  whale, 
by  running  or  sounding  a  great  distance,  takes 
it  all  out,  another  boat  is  signalled  and  assists 
in  the  capture." 

Scoresby  tells  of  a  Greenland  whale  that  drew 
out  six  miles  of  line,  with  fifteen  harpoons  attached, 
and  carried  down  a  whale  boat  with  all  hands 
before  it  was  killed.  Usually  a  whale  takes 
out  no  more  than  200  fathoms  —  1200  feet — of 
line. 

The  most  important  weapon  used  in  the  modern 
fishery  is  the  whaling  gun,  of  one  of  the  forms 
now  to  be  described.  Among  the  weapons  used 
on  war-ships  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  was  the  swivel  cannon.  It  was  usually 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and   Boats     215 

made  of  cast  iron  with  the  bore  large  enough 
to  accommodate  a  one-pound,  cast-iron  ball. 
Guns  of  this  kind  were  mounted  on  the  rails 
of  war-ships  by  means  of  swivels,  and  for  short 
range  were  convenient  and  fairly  effective.  Know- 
ing all  about  these  swivels,  some  whaleman,  as 
early  as  1/31,  invented  a  swivel  from  which  a 
harpoon  could  be  fired  at  a  whale.  The  art 
of  aiming  cannon  had  not  yet  been  acquired  by 
the  seamen  of  the  world,  however,  and  when 
the  whalemen  tried  to  aim  this  harpoon  gun, 
while  the  boat  was  dancing  and  plunging  over 
the  waves,  they  found  that  they  could  not  hit 
the  target.  The  use  of  slow  matches  (percus- 
sion caps  had  not  been  invented)  was  another 
drawback.  Moreover  the  harpoon  line  proved  so 
much  of  a  drag  on  the  harpoon  that  the  range 
of  the  gun  was  limited.  The  frames  of  the  whale 
boat  were  not  strong  enough  to  bear  the  strain 
of  the  recoil  of  the  gun,  and  when  the  frames 
were  made  heavier  the  whalemen  were  unable 
to  row  the  boat  as  swiftly  as  was  necessary. 
When  two  or  more  boats  gathered  around  a 
whale,  and  all  began  to  fire  at  it,  the  chances  of 


2»i6     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

hitting  one  of  the  boats  with  the  gun-thrown 
harpoon  were  greater  than  the  chances  of  hitting 
the  whale.  The  gun  was  therefore  soon  dis- 
carded, and  when  in  1771  and  1772  it  was  tried 
again,  it  proved  as  unpopular  as  before. 

In  the  nineteenth  century  the  swivel  gun  for 
throwing  a  harpoon  was  again  offered  to  the 
whalers.  N ties'  Register  of  May  24,  1817,  men* 
tions  the  use  of  such  a  gun  by  the  whalers  of 
Bermuda.  A  British  gunmaker  named  Greenet 
and  a  Norway  inventor  named  Svend  Foyn 
made  guns  that  were  mounted  on  the  bows  of 
whale  boats  in  such  a  way  that  they  could  be 
pointed  in  any  direction  speedily.  Greener's 
first  guns  had  the  old  flint-locks.  Foyn  added 
an  explosive  bomb  to  his  harpoon,  and  it  was 
arranged  so  that  it  would  explode  after  it  had 
penetrated  the  whale  and  not  before. 

The  harpoon  for  use  in  a  gun  is  made  entirely 
of  metal.  The  end  of  the  handle  is  a  disk  that 
fits  in  the  bore  of  the  gun  resting  on  the  powder 
charge.  The  handle  is  in  two  parallel  parts,  and 
a  ring,  to  which  the  harpoon  line  is  attached, 
slides  freely  to  and  fro  in  the  slot  thus  formed. 


Harpoons,   Lances,  Guns,  and   Boats     2^7 

When  the  harpoon  is  placed  in  the  bore  of  the 
gun,  the  ring  slides  to  the  head  of  the  harpoon. 
When  the  gun  is  fired,  the  harpoon  carries  the 
ring  with  the  line  trailing  away  behind.  If  the 
gunner  fails  to  hit  the  whale,  or  if  the  first  har- 
poon fails  to  kill  the  animal,  other  harpoons 
are  at  hand  ready  for  more  shots  as  opportunity 
may  offer.  On  the  coast  of  Norway  and  in  the 
Iceland  waters  the  harpoon  guns,  as  invented 
by  Foyn,  are  popular.  Foyn  himself  made  a  for- 
tune using  his  own  gun.  On  the  Pacific  coast 
of  the  United  States  the  Greener  gun  has  been 
used.  The  range  of  these  swivel  guns  is  placed 
as  high  as  84  yards.  In  America,  however, 
the  harpoons  thus  used  had  no  bomb  attached. 
The  bombs  are  fired  from  another  kind  of  gun. 

In  1847  the  following,  from  the  Nantucket  En- 
quirer,  went  the  rounds  of  the  newspapers  printed 
in  the  Atlantic  ports: 

"We  saw  yesterday  at  the  store  of  Captain 
E.  W.  Gardner  a  very  curious  contrivance  for 
killing  whales.  It  is  a  short  gun  weighing  some 
twenty-five  pounds  —  the  stock  being  of  solid 
brass  —  from  which  a  harpoon  is  to  be  fired  into 


218     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  animal.  The  handle  of  the  harpoon  goes 
into  the  gun  about  a  foot,  and  a  line  is  fastened  to 
it,  of  course  outside  the  gun,  by  which  the  whale 
is  to  be  held. 

"There  is  also  a  bomb  lance  for  the  purpose 
of  killing  the  animal.  The  instrument  is  loaded 
with  powder,  and  a  slow  match  is  led  from  the 
magazine  to  the  end  which  goes  into  the  gun. 
When  the  lance  is  fired  into  the  whale  the  slow 
match  ignites;  and  in  about  half  a  minute  the 
fire  reaches  the  powder  which  is  in  the  head  of 
the  instrument,  which  instantly  explodes,  killing 
the  animal  outright.  At  least,  this  is  what  the 
article  is  intended  to  do. 

"The  whole  apparatus  is  certainly  very  in- 
genious; whether  or  not  it  is  really  an  improve- 
ment on  the  present  mode  of  killing  whales  is 
more  than  we  are  able  to  say.  That  is  a  ques- 
tion that  must  be  settled  by  the  whalemen  them- 
selves." 

Any  study  of  the  history  of  the  sea  shows  that 
sailors  and  shipowners  are  the  most  conservative 
people  in  the  world.  It  was  thirty  years  after 
Fulton  made  a  success  on  the  Hudson  before 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     219 

steamers  for  crossing  the  ocean  came  into  use. 
The  compound  engine  was  in  use  on  the  Great 
Lakes  before  1850,  but  salt-water  owners  refused 
to  adopt  it  until  after  1870.  Ericsson  made  a 
practical  screw  propeller  before  1840,  and  men-o'- 
war  used  it  within  five  years;  but  the  merchant- 
ship  owners  were  building  side-wheel  Atlantic 
liners  until  after  1860.  The  gun  that  could  be 
fired  from  the  shoulder  to  throw  a  bomb  into  a 
whale  was  to  come  into  universal  use  only  after 
the  whaling  business  had  died  down  to  a  small 
fraction  of  what  it  was  when  the  gun  was  intro- 
duced. 

The  muzzle-loading  gun  described  in  the  Nan- 
tucket  paper  is  now  known  as  the  Brand  gun, 
and  it  is  still  popular  on  Cape  Cod,  though  about 
as  much  out  of  date  as  the  hand  lance.  Three 
sizes  have  been  in  use  in  the  fishery,  the  bore 
being  from  seven-eighths  of  an  inch  to  an  inch  and 
a  quarter  in  diameter,  and  the  weight  of  the  gun 
from  23  pounds  down  to  18.  The  charge  of 
powder  was  but  three  drams.  C.  C.  Brand  of 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  was  the  inventor  of  the  old 
smooth-bore  shoulder  gun. 


22O     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  bomb  lance  to  be  fired  from  a  shoulder 
gun  was  invented  by  Robert  Allen,  also  of  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut.  It  was  merely  a  long  metal 
tube,  filled  with  powder  and  fired  by  means  of  a 
time  fuse.  As  it  was  fired  from  a  smooth-bore 
gun,  and  was  unprovided  with  wings  or  feathers 
of  any  kind  to  keep  it  travelling  end-on,  it  was 
quite  likely  to  strike  the  whale  "broadside  to," 
and  fail  to  penetrate  far  enough.  It  was  not 
only  ineffective  in  such  circumstances,  but  it  was 
likely  to  prove  dangerous  to  the  whalemen  by 
exploding  as  it  lay  on  the  surface  of  the  whale, 
and  throwing  pieces  of  the  metal  in  all  directions. 

In  1852,  however,  Brand  improved  the  bomb 
by  giving  it  feathers  such  as  the  Indians  used  to 
affix  to  their  arrows,  only  rubber  was  used  in- 
stead of  feathers  from  a  fowl.  As  thus  improved, 
the  bombs  are  now  used. 

A  curious  accident  occurred  in  connection  with 
the  use  of  the  bomb  harpoon  of  Norway.  In 
1895  a  dead  whale,  into  which  more  than  one 
harpQon  had  been  fired,  was  brought  alongside 
the  little  steamer  on  which  the  gun  was  mounted. 
The  steamer  was  to  tow  it  to  the  beach  near  the 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     221 

try-works.  When  the  whale  had  been  well  se- 
cured to  the  steamer,  a  live  bomb  that  was  in  the 
whale's  blubber  suddenly  exploded.  The  explo- 
sion opened  a  hole  in  the  vessel,  which  sank  so 
quickly  that  the  crew  had  barely  time  to  escape. 

In  May,  1877,  the  New  Bedford  Mercury  had 
the  following: 

"During  last  year  Captain  Eben  Pierce,  the 
well-known  manufacturer  of  bomb  lances,  and 
Selmar  Eggers  .  .  .  perfected  ...  a  breech-load- 
ing whaling  gun  varying  from  the  ordinary 
weapon  as  much  as  a  modern  sixteen  shooting 
rifle  does  from  the  flint-lock  shot-gun  of  our 
ancestors. 

"The  great  superiority  of  this  weapon  lies  in 
the  manner  of  loading.  The  old  guns  were  loaded 
with  loose  powder,  and  were  more  dangerous  to 
handle  when  charged;  the  powder  would  also 
become  dampened  with  flying  spray  when  in  a 
boat  that  was  going  through  the  water  at  a  lively 
rate,  and  it  has  often  occurred  that  when  the 
pursuers  had  arrived  within  easy  range  of  their 
prey  they  would  find  the  charge  moistened,  and 
the  weapon  consequently  useless.  Mr.  Eggers' 


222     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

gun  is  so  constructed  that  by  touching  a  spring 
in  the  butt,  a  chamber  in  which  the  barrel  ter- 
minates is  opened.  Into  this  a  cartridge  is  in- 
serted. It  is  charged  with  2^  drams  of  powder, 
or  about  half  the  quantity  used  to  load  the  ordi- 
nary guns.  The  chamber  is  then  closed.  Upon 
pulling  the  trigger  the  hammer  strikes  a  sharp 
blow  upon  a  cap  in  the  end  of  the  cartridge,  and 
the  piece  is  discharged.  The  whole  operation  of 
loading,  firing,  and  reloading  can  be  accomplished 
in  two  minutes'  time.  .  .  .  The  gun  is  much 
surer  and  safer,  as  these  cartridges  can  be  kept 
in  the  pocket  until  needed ;  and  no  water  can 
lessen  their  power  after  they  are  placed  in  the 
chamber.  With  the  breech-loader,  a  lance  can  be 
sent  with  destructive  effect  over  750  feet,  if  fired 
at  a  slight  elevation.  The  weapon  is  constructed 
of  gun  metal  and  is  thus  almost  impervious  to 
wet." 

Cunningham  and  Coogan,  a  New  Bedford  firm, 
brought  out  another  breech-loader,  with  a  bomb 
lance  for  a  projectile.  Each  style  of  gun  has  its 
friends.  It  is  said  by  whalers  that  all  three  kinds 
of  guns  herein  described  are  effective,  and  that  all 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     223 

of  them  "kick"  with  amazing  power  whenever 
fired.  It  is,  therefore,  customary  to  use  a  lan- 
yard to  secure  every  gun  to  the  boat  in  such  a 
way  that  if  the  gunner  should  be  kicked  over- 
board, the  gun  can  be  recovered ! 

y 

Bomb  lances,  in  late  years,  have  been  made 
from  17  to  19  inches  long,  and  from  a  pound  and 
a  quarter  to  two  pounds  in  weight.  The  burst- 
ing charge  is  about  two  ounces  of  powder.  In 
using  these  bomb  guns  the  whale  is  first  struck 
with  a  harpoon  thrown  by  hand,  the  boat  is  drawn 
up  within  range  as  soon  as  possible  —  within 
from  30  feet  to  30  yards  —  and  then  a  lance  is 
fired  into  the  animal. 

^  The  darting  gun  is  the  latest  style  of  bomb- 
throwing  weapons.  It  was  invented  by  Captain 
Eben  Pierce  and  Patrick  Cunningham,  of  New 
Bedford.  A  gun  barrel  is  attached,  with  its 
muzzle  end  down,  to  a  harpoon.  The  gun  barrel 
is  provided  with  a  trigger  in  the  shape  of  a  rod  of 
metal  that  projects  beyond  the  muzzle.  Having 
loaded  the  gun,  the  combination  of  harpoon  and 
gun  barrel  is  thrown  at  the  whale.  The  harpoon 
sinks  into  the  whale  and  holds  the  boat  to  the 


224     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

animal  by  means  of  a  line,  as  usual.  As  the  har- 
poon is  thus  made  to  penetrate  the  whale,  the 
metal-rod  trigger  strikes  against  the  skin  of  the 
whale,  discharges  the  gun,  and  the  bomb  lance  is 
thus  fired  into  the  whale.  The  Whale  Fishery 
says  that  "were  it  not  for  this  kind  of  gun,  ice 
whaling  could  not  be  successfully  pursued." 
That  is  to  say,  that  the  whales  found  along  the 
ice  fields  are  now  so  shy,  and  hover  so  close  to 
the  ice,  that  if  struck  by  an  ordinary  harpoon 
they  would  escape  under  the  ice  before  a  bomb 
could  be  fired  into  them  from  an  ordinary  gun. 
•V  Still  another  weapon  —  the  whaling  rocket  — 
was  invented  by  Patrick  Cunningham.  Cunning- 
ham is  known  to  most  seafaring  people  as  the  in- 
ventor of  a  line-carrying  rocket  used  by  the  life- 
saving  stations  for  carrying  lines  to  stranded 
ships.  This  rocket  was  modified  so  that  a  barbed 
harpoon  point  was  fixed  to  the  head.  A  gun 
barrel  loaded  with  a  bomb  lance  was  attached 
beside  the  rocket,  and  the  combination  was  so 
arranged  that  the  rocket  in  its  flight  would  strike 
the  whale,  the  harpoon  would  penetrate,  and  the 
gun  would  then  fire  the  bomb  into  the  whale. 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and   Boat?     225 

The  rocket  gun  has  been  found  useful  chiefly  in 
the  alongshore  fisheries,  where  boats  larger  than 
the  ordinary  whale  boat  are  desirable. 

The  use  of  a  net  for  taking  whales  has  been 
mentioned.  In  1848  Captain  Josiah  Ghenn, 
master  of  the  schooner  Council,  while  cruising  off 
the  coast  of  Labrador,  made  a  net  150  fathoms 
long  by  8  deep,  and  set  it  as  a  trap  near  the  beach, 
hoping  to  catch  a  bowhead  in  it.  A  bowhead 
entered  the  trap,  but  on  becoming  somewhat  en- 
tangled, it  swam  away  out  to  sea. 

"And  I  have  never  seen  that  whale  or  net 
since,"  said  the  captain,  in  relating  the  story  to 
the  writer  of  The  Whale  Fishery. 

In  an  essay  on  Whale  Fishing  in  the  Faroe 
Islands,  Mr.  S.  H.  C.  Muller  described  to  the 
International  Fisheries  Exposition  (Glasgow, 
1882)  a  net  that  is  used  in  those  islands  for  tak- 
ing blackfish,  as  the  grind  or  pilot  whale  is  called. 
This  net  is  usually  200  fathoms  long  by  8 
deep,  and  is  made  of  nine-yarn  rope.  It  has  been 
found  very  useful  in  holding  the  small  whales 
within  narrow  waters  until  the  fishermen  can  go 
among  them  and  use  the  lance. 
Q 


226     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

These  blackfish  are  only  twenty-two  feet  long 
at  most  At  one  point  on  the  coast  of  New  Zea- 
land a  station  has  been  established  for  the  express 
purpose  of  taking  right  whales  with  a  net.  The 
following,  regarding  this  station  and  its  net,  was 
written  by  Mr.  Allen  Kelly,  and  published  in 
Forest  and  Stream  on  July  21,  1906: 

"Wangamumu  is  a  little  bay  on  the  east  coast, 
a  few  miles  south  of  a  prominent  cape  which  juts 
out  to  the  northeast  and  might  easily  be  mistaken 
for  the  northeastern  extremity  of  the  North 
Island.  During  May  and  June  the  Antarctic 
whale  migrates  north  into  warmer  waters,  and  it 
seems  probable  that  there  is  some  set  of  currents 
around  the  headland  of  Wangamumu  which  de- 
ceives him  into  seeking  a  passage  to  the  Tasman 
Sea  by  boring  into  the  shore  at  that  point.  What- 
ever may  be  the  cause,  the  fact  is  that  schools  of 
whales  hug  the  shore  and  pass  very  close  to  a 
great  jutting  rock  at  Wangamumu. 

"Straight  out  into  the  sea  from  the  point  of 
rocks  is  stretched  the  whale  net,  made  of  three- 
quarter  inch  wire  rope  in  six-foot  mesh,  each 
mesh  being  formed  of  separate  sections  of  rope 


Entangled  Whale  Diving 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     227 

attached  to  iron  corner  rings,  taking  the  places  of 
knots.  The  top  edge  of  the  net  is  held  close  to 
the  surface  by  barrels  serving  as  buoys.  A  whale 
cruising  along  the  shore  gets  his  head  through  a 
mesh,  and  instead  of  attempting  to  back  out,  he 
rushes  forward  and  entangles  himself  hopelessly 
in  the  net.  .  .  .  From  a  lookout  station  on  the 
top  of  the  headland  a  watcher  signals  the  ap- 
proach of  whales,  and  the  boats  put  off  and  lie 
in  wait.  An  entangled  whale  carries  away  the 
net  with  a  rush,  but  the  great  weight  of  the  wire 
rope  and  the  drag  of  a  long  line  of  buoys  impede 
him,  and  instead  of  heading  out  to  sea  and  going 
away  with  the  whole  outfit,  he  thrashes  about 
and  soon  gets  fins  and  flukes  entangled,  when  the 
boat  approaches  and  the  whalers  finish  the  busi- 
ness with  the  lance  as  in  the  old  days." 

Plans  for  poisoning  whales  with  prussic  acid 
were  evolved  in  England  in  1831.  The  Scientific 
American  of  September  8,  1860,  says: 

"A  paper  has  just  been  published  in  England 
by  Professor  Christison  on  the  result  of  some 
experiments  suggested  as  long  ago  as  1831,  by. 
W.  &  G.  Young  of  Leith,  for  the  capture  of 


228     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

whales  by  means  of  prussic  acid.  The  subtile 
poison  was  contained  in  tubes,  in  quantity  about 
two  ounces.  Among  other  difficulties  one  was  to 
discharge  the  poison  at  the  right  time.  After 
various  trials  the  plan  fixed  upon  was  to  attach 
firmly  to  each  end  of  the  harpoon  near  the  blade 
one  end  of  a  strong  copper  wire,  the  other  end  of 
which  passed  obliquely  over  the  tube,  thereby 
securing  it  in  its  place;  then  through  an  oblique 
hole  in  the  shaft,  close  to  the  upper  end  of  the 
tube,  and  finally  to  a  bight  in  the  rope  where  it 
was  firmly  secured.  By  these  means  the  rope 
could  not  be  drawn  tight  (as  it  would  be  when 
the  harpoon  attached  to  it  struck  the  whale) 
without  crushing  the  tubes;  the  poison  would 
then  enter  the  whale  and  death  ensue.  Messrs. 
Young  sent  a  quantity  of  the  tubes  charged  with 
poison  by  one  of  their  ships  engaged  in  the  Green- 
land fishery,  and  on  meeting  with  a  fine  whale 
the  harpoon  was  deeply  buried  in  its  body;  the 
leviathan  immediately  'sounded,'  but  in  a  very 
short  time  the  rope  relaxed  and  the  whale  rose 
to  the  surface  quite  dead.  The  men  were  so  ap- 
palled by  the  terrific  effect  of  the  poisoned  harpoon 
that  they  declined  to  use  any  more  of  them." 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     229 

The  Whale  Fishery,  in  speaking  of  the  use 
of  prussic  acid,  says  that  "American  whalemen 
unanimously  attribute  the  inauguration  of  this 
enterprise  to  the  French."  Nile*'  Register,  on 
September  2,  1843,  sa^  triat  a  French  naval 
surgeon  had  invented  a  tube-carrying  harpoon  of 
a  design  that  would  spill  the  poison  into  the 
wound,  and  it  adds  that  such  a  method  had  been 
proposed  in  Baltimore  as  early  as  1837.  F.  C. 
Sanford,  of  Nantucket,  is  authority  for  the  state- 
ment that  the  ship  Susan,  that  sailed  from  Nan- 
tucket  on  November  17,  1873,  carried  poisoned 
harpoons.  They  were  not  used  by  the  crew,  how- 
ever, according  to  the  mate  of  the  vessel,  Mr. 
Charles  E.  Allen,  also  a  resident  of  Nantucket. 
Mr.  Samuel  Tuck,  of  Williamsburg,  Brooklyn, 
New  York,  who  was  agent  for  the  Susan,  told  Mr. 
James  Templeman  Brown  that  the  harpoons  were 
forged  on  Nantucket  with  slots  in  the  head  where 
slender  tubes  of  poison  could  be  placed.  Two 
harpoons  made  in  this  fashion  are  now  displayed 
in  the  National  Museum. 

Captain  William  Adams,  a  Scotch  whaler, 
wrote  to  Professor  Baird  as  follows: 


230     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"During  the  winter  of  1861  a  large  two-grooved 
rifle  was  made  by  Messrs.  Dixon,  of  Edinburgh, 
from  plans  and  instructions  of  Mr.  James  Miln, 
of  Murie.  The  weight  of  the  rifle  was  28  pounds. 
Shells  were  made  for  it  and  filled  with  one-half 
ounce  concentrated  prussic  acid  and  a  small 
charge  of  powder  fired  by  a  ten-second  fuse." 

On  May  12,  1862,  one  of  these  shells  was  fired 
into  a  whale.  "She  went  under  for  four  or  five 
minutes,  and  on  coming  up  another  was  fired 
into  her.  She  then  seemed  quite  helpless.  Three 
gun  harpoons  were  then  fired  into  her  as  she  lay 
on  her  side.  At  12:30  P.M.  she  was  quite  dead. 
We  had  no  difficulty  with  the  men  in  regard  to 
the  poison,  but  we  never  got  another  chance  to 
use  it." 

An  official  list  of  patents  issued  by  the  United 
States  Patent  Office  for  the  week  ending  March 
30,  1852,  shows  that  Dr.  Albert  Sonnenberg  and 
Philipp  Rechter,  of  Bremen,  Germany,  had  secured 
a  patent  for  an  "electric  whaling  apparatus." 
"We  claim,"  said  the  inventors,  "the  application 
of  electric  galvanic  current  by  a  conductor  to  an 
instrument  which  is  thrown  into  sperm  and  right 


Harpoons,  Lances,   Guns,  and  Boats      231 

whales,  as  well  as  other  animals  of  the  sea,  in 
order  to  secure  them."  The  whale  boat  for  this 
machine  was  made  longer  than  the  ordinary  one. 
A  "magneto-electric  rotation  machine"  was  pro- 
vided to  supply  the  current,  and  a  wire  from  this 
machine  through  the  whale  line  to  the  harpoon 
conveyed  the  current  into  the  whale.  Having 
struck  the  whale  with  this  harpoon,  the  boat's 
crew  were  to  grind  away  merrily  on  the  machine 
while  it  transmitted  "eight  tremendous  shocks  or 
960  strokes  per  minute,  so  formidable  a  power 
that  no  living  being  can  resist  the  same."  The 
current  was  to  return  through  the  water,  the 
bottom  of  the  boat  being  coppered  to  facilitate 
the  flow. 

Last  of  all  to  be  described  in  connection  with 
the  weapons  is  a  reel  used  on  the  Norwegian 
steam  whale  boats  for  "playing"  a  whale  after  it 
has  been  struck  with  the  harpoon  that  is  fired 
from  a  swivel  gun.  'The  harpoon  line  used  there 
is  of  soft  hemr>  and  about  as  thick  as  a  man's 
wrist.  All  of  the  line,  except  the  necessary  slack 
that  is  coiled  beside  the  gun,  is  wound  on  the 
spool  of  a  steam  winch.  When  a  whale  is  struck 


232     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

by  a  harpoon,  but  not  killed  by  the  attached 
bomb,  the  wounded  animal  plunges  to  the  bottom 
or  swims  away  at  its  utmost  speed.  At  this  time 
the  man  at  the  winch  pays  out  as  much  line  as 
he  must,  but  keeps  a  heavy  strain  on  it.  When 
the  whale  slackens  its  speed,  or  in  any  way  eases 
the  strain,  the  line  is  wound  in,  but  only  to  let  it 
out  again,  if  the  whale  makes  another  plunge. 
The  man  at  the  winch  literally  plays  the  whale  as 
a  rod  fisherman  plays  a  trout  or  salmon,  until  it 
is  finally  brought  within  reach  of  another  bomb. 

As  the  models  of  harpoon  and  spear  were  de- 
veloped from  the  arrow  and  the  spear  of  the  abo- 
rigines, so,  it  may  be  said,  the  whale  boat  is  but  a 
larger  and  stronger  birch-bark  canoe.  The  first 
civilized  whalers  of  America  used  such  boats  as 
were  carried  by  the  ships  that  crossed  the  sea. 
But  from  Long  Island  to  the  coast  of  Maine  the 
colonial  whalers  had  ever  before  them  the  light- 
weight canoes,  sharp  at  both  ends,  that  were 
used  by  the  red  whalers.  The  Indians  in  their 
canoes  dashed  in  alongside  the  whale,  plunged 
home  their  weapons,  and  then,  with  a  stroke  of 
the  paddle,  turned  away,  dodging  the  flukes  and 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,   and  Boats     233 

escaping  immediate  danger,  only  to  return  again 
for  another  attack.  In  speed  and  handiness  the 
canoe  model  was  not  excelled  by  any  then  known 
to  the  white  men.  Therefore,  in  spite  of  race 
prejudice,  inherited  from  the  brutal  days  when 
every  man's  hand  was  against  his  neighbor,  the 
white  whalers  adopted  the  red  man's  model. 

The  whale  boat  was  sharp  at  both  ends  and 
could  be  driven  astern  as  readily  as  ahead.  Giving 
the  boat  great  sheer  —  building  the  bow  and  stern 
high  out  of  water  —  enabled  it  to  throw  off  the 
waves  of  a  rough  sea,  and  also  made  it  less  likely 
to  turn  over  when  struck  by  a  flaw  of  wind. 
Then,  still  following  the  canoe  model,  the  floor 
was  made  nearly  flat  so  that  the  crew  could  turn 
the  boat  swiftly  and  dodge  the  onslaught  of  a 
wounded  whale  much  as  the  Indians  did.  Oars 
were  used  by  the  white  whalers  from  the  first,  but 
they  also  adopted  the  Indian  paddle,  because 
paddles  made  less  noise  and  disturbance  in  the 
water.  Finally  sails  were  added  to  the  boats  of 
the  white  whalers,  partly  because  a  sailing  boat 
could  run  on  to  a  whale  without  disturbing  it,  and 
partly  because  sailing  saved  the  work  of  rowing. 


234     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Since  1860  the  usual  length  of  the  whale  boat 
has  been  28  or  29  feet.  A  28-foot  boat  is  20  feet 
long  on  the  keel,  5  feet  8  inches  wide,  and  26  inches 
deep.  The  keel  is  "4  inches  in  rocker";  it  is 
bent  in  the  shape  of  a  bow.  The  sheer  or  up- 
ward curve  of  the  rails  was  15  inches  above  the 
horizontal  plane  amidships  in  former  days,  but 
it  is  made  less  in  these  days.  All  framing  is  made 
of  white  oak  and  the  planks  are  of  cedar.  The 
ribs  are  but  half  an  inch  deep.  Inch-pine  boards 
are  used  for  thwarts.  A  mast  is  stepped  through 
a  hole  in  the  forward  thwart.  Centreboards  are 
located  where  needed.  The  stem  rises  above  the 
rail,  where  it  is  shaped  like  a  Y,  in  the  bottom  of 
which  is  a  brass  roller  or  a  lining  of  lead  to  form 
a  smooth  fairway  for  the  whale  line.  A  shallow 
box  is  built  something  like  a  forecastle  deck  in 
the  bow  of  the  boat.  On  this  are  coiled  the  spare 
ends  of  the  whale  lines  that  are  attached  to  the 
"live"  harpoons.  At  the  stern  of  the  boat  a 
stout  timber  head  rises  from  the  keel  up  through 
a  short  deck,  and  it  is  well  supported  by  knees. 
The  whale  line  is  taken  from  the  tub  to  this 
timber  head,  around  which  two  or. three  turns  are 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     235 

taken  in  order  to  bring  a  strain  on  the  line  when 
a  struck  whale  is  sounding.  The  friction  of  the 
line  flying  around  this  timber  often  sets  it  on  fire, 
and  it  is  necessary  to  throw  water  over  it.  The 
weight  of  a  whale  boat  ready  for  the  ship  is  from 
500  to  550  pounds.  One  in  the  National  Museum 
with  its  load  of  weapons,  lines,  etc.,  weighs  1528 
pounds.  The  boat  is  usually  steered  with  a 
19-foot  oar,  but  a  rudder  is  carried.  The  oars 
range  from  9  to  16  feet  in  length,  and  the  shortest 
is  placed  at  the  bow.  The  28-foot  boat  formerly 
sold  as  low  as  $90,  but  the  prices  are  now  far 
above  $100. 

The  ordinary  whale  ship  of  what  was  called 
the  Golden  Era  of  the  nineteenth  century  car- 
ried four  boats  on  the  davits,  —  one  aft  on  the 
starboard  side,  called  the  "captain's"  or  the  "star- 
board" boat;  one  aft  on  the  port  side,  called  the 
"larboard"  boat;  one  on  the  port  side  abreast 
the  mainmast,  called  the  "waist"  boat;  and  one 
forward  on  the  port  side,  called  the  "bow"  boat. 
The  first,  second,  and  third  mates  had  charge  of 
these  boats  on  the  port  side  in  the  order  named. 
The  harpooner  of  the  captain's  boat  took  charge 


236     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

of  it  when  the  captain  wished  to  remain  on  the 
ship. 

Every  whaler  carried  two  or  three  spare  boats 
and  plenty  of  lumber  for  making  repairs.  Some 
modern  whalers  carry  from  five  to  seven  boats  on 
the  davits  ready  to  lower,  but  they  keep  the  star- 
board waist  clear  because  it  is  there  that  the 
whale  is  secured  when  its  blubber  is  to  be  saved. 
The  small  schooners  that  now  haunt  the  Atlantic 
grounds  carry  two  or  three  boats  on  the  davits, 
and  a  spare  one  on  "the  tail  feathers,"  as  the 
davits  at  the  stern  are  called.  The  davits  are 
made  of  stout  bent  timbers,  that  rise  about  ten 
feet  above  the  rail  in  order  to  hold  the  boat  above 
the  waves.  Iron  davits  have  been  tried,  but  they 
were  not  approved.  Whale  boats  are  usually 
worn  out  in  one  voyage,  even  when  they  are  not 
destroyed  by  the  whales.  They  are  thrown  vio- 
lently against  the  side  of  the  ship  when  lowered 
in  a  seaway;  the  race  to  reach  the  whale  is  some- 
thing of  a  strain,  and  the  race  after  the  whale  is 
struck,  when  they  are  dragged  through  —  literally 
through  —  the  waves  at  a  speed  of  from  six  to 
twelve  knots  an  hour,  is  a  greater  one.  When  the 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     237 

whale  sounds,  the  strain  on  the  line  lifts  the  stern 
high  in  the  air  while  the  bow  is  depressed  until 
the  rail  is  just  awash.  After  the  racking  of  a 
cruise  of  forty  months,  no  one  cares  to  use  the 
boats  for  a  new  voyage. 

The  original  deep-water  Nantucket  whaler  was 
a  sloop  of  thirty  to  forty  tons,  —  a  vessel  of  the 
size  of  .the  oyster  sloops  that  are  to  be  seen  in  the 
Atlantic  ports.  Such  vessels  as  these,  and  even 
larger  ones,  were  built  back  in  the  woods,  at  times 
a  mile  from  the  water.  When  ready  they  were 
lowered  down  on  huge  sleds  and  drawn  by  a 
hundred  yoke  of  oxen  to  the  water  side.  The 
men  who  built  the  ship  manned  it.  Nantucket 
men  (or  women)  also  wove  the  canvas  for  their 
sails,  beginning  in  1792,  and  a  newspaper  item 
of  that  time  says  that  the  looms  employed  more 
hands  than  the  five  ropewalks  that  were  then  in 
existence  on  the  island.  The  cost  of  the  small 
whale  ships  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  nomi- 
nally from  £3  to  £5  per  ton  register. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  the  Pacific 
whalers  were  from  200  to  450  tons  register,  usually. 
A  ship  like  the  Charles  Pbelps,  built  at  Westerly, 


238     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Rhode  Island,  for  Stonington  owners,  and  regis- 
tered at  New  London  on  August  23,  1842,  was  a 
favorite  size.  As  described  by  James  H.  Weeks 
in  the  Westerly  Sun  (January  2,  1900),  she  was 
107.5  feet  long  by  27.5  wide  and  13.75  deep. 
She  measured  362^  tons.  Such  a  ship  and  her 
outfit  cost  from  $60  to  $70  a  ton.  In  1847  a 
writer  in  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine  boasted 
that  New  London  owned  "the  largest  and  the 
smallest  whalemen  in  the  world, —  the  ship  Atlan- 
tic being  699  tons  burden,  while  the  schooner 
Garland  is  only  49  tons."  The  Atlantic  lost  her 
captain,  William  Beck,  during  that  voyage,  but 
she  saved  a  cargo  worth  nearly  $80,000.  Though 
the  largest  whaler  in  the  world,  she  was  yet 
shorter  than  the  sloop  yachts  that  have  in  recent 
years  sailed  for  the  America  s  cup  in  the  races  off 
Sandy  Hook. 

The  first  steamer  employed  in  the  whale  fishery 
was  the  Innuit.  She  left  Peterhead,  Scotland,  for 
the  Greenland  grounds  in  1857,  and  came  back 
at  the  end  of  three  weeks  with  150  tons  of  oil. 
This  good  luck  led  the  owners  of  many  steamers 
to  venture  into  the  Arctic  whale  fishery;  but  out 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     239 

of  fifty-two  vessels  that  were  so  employed  during 
the  next  two  years,  so  many  were  lost  in  the  ice 
that  steamers  went  out  of  style  almost  as  rapidly 
as  they  had  risen  in  favor.  Then  the  work  of 
building  steamers,  especially  for  the  fishery,  was 
begun,  and  ever  since  that  time  steam  has  had  a 
firm  hold  on  the  whalers  of  the  world. 

The  first  American  steam  whaler  was  the  bark- 
rigged  Pioneer  of  212  tons  register.  She  had 
been  built  for  a  transport  during  the  Civil  War. 
In  1865  Williams  and  Havens,  of  New  Bedford, 
rebuilt  her  and  sent  her  to  Davis  Straits.  She 
reached  home  on  November  14,  1866,  with  340 
barrels  of  oil  and  5300  pounds  of  bone.  In  her 
next  cruise  she  was  crushed  in  the  ice.  (The 
Whale  Fishery.")  The  first  steam  whaler  to  make 
a  notable  success  was  the  Mary  and  Ellen,  built 
by  William  Lewis  and  others,  of  New  Bedford, 
especially  for  the  purpose.  She  measured  508 
tons.  She  sailed  September  9,  1879,  for  the 
North  Pacific,  under  Captain  L.  C.  Owen,  and 
on  October  10,  1880,  reached  San  Francisco  with 
265  barrels  of  sperm  oil  worth  $28  per  barrel, 
2350  barrels  of  whale  oil  worth  $16  per  barrel, 


240     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  45,000  pounds  of  bone  worth  $2  a  pound. 
She  was  afterward  sold  to  the  United  States  for 
use  in  the  search  for  the  survivors  of  the  'Jeanette 
Expedition,  and  was  accidentally  burned  on  No- 
vember 30,  1 88 1.  The  success  of  this  ship,  and 
that  of  another  which  her  owners  built  to  take 
her  place,  made  the  use  of  steamers  popular  for 
the  Arctic  fishery.  The  American  whale  fleet  of 
1880,  including  outfit  and  steamers,  was  valued 
at  $70  a  ton. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  novelty  adopted 
by  American  whalers  was  a  steam  whale  boat. 
The  noise  made  by  a  propeller  was  the  chief 
objection  to  such  a  craft.  Whales  were  and  are 
so  wary  that  they  are  sometimes  frightened  by 
the  approach  of  a  boat  under  sail;  that  a  boat 
with  a  whirling  screw  under  its  stern  should  ever 
get  alongside  a  whale  seemed  impossible.  Never- 
theless, in  1882,  at  the  suggestion  of  Lieutenant 
Z.  L.  Tanner,  U.S.N.,  the  firm  of  J.  H.  Bartlett 
and  Sons,  of  New  Bedford,  sent  a  28-foot  steam 
cutter,  of  the  navy  pattern,  but  fitted  to  burn 
"scrap,"  with  their  bark  Rainbow,  Captain  Ber- 
nard Cogan.  Aldrich,  previously  quoted,  saw  the 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and  Boats     241 

launch  in  use  in  the  Arctic  fleet  during  the  year 
1887. 

"Eight  vessels,  two  steamers,  and  six  sailing 
vessels  were  at  anchor  in  the  bight  under  Cape 
East,  Siberia,"  he  wrote.  "Immediately  after 
dinner,  one  day,  the  lookout  on  the  southernmost 
vessel  raised  the  cry  of  'b-l-o-w!'  The  echo 
of  his  call  had  scarcely  died  away  before  the  whale 
boats  of  this  vessel  dropped  from  the  davits  into 
the  water,  set  sail,  and  scattered  about  to  watch 
for  the  next  appearance  of  the  whale.  Boats  from 
the  other  vessels  were  not  far  behind,  and  within 
five  minutes  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  white  sails 
were  darting  over  the  water,  each  boat's  crew 
hoping  to  be  nearest  the  spot  where  the  whale 
should  rise  to  blow.  ...  A  great  shout  came 
from  all  sides,  and  a  '  b-1-o-w-w'  sounded  from  each 
crow's  nest  as  the  whale's  head  appeared  above 
the  water  within  striking  distance  of  the  Lucretias 
boats.  There  was  a  quick  manoeuvre,  the  boat 
steerer  darted  his  harpoon  into  the  whale,  and 
'fast  boat!'  resounded  from  every  vessel.  It 
was  a  magnificent  sight  as  the  whale  milled  about 
and  started  out  to  sea  at  a  high  rate  of  speed, 


242     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

towing  the  boat  after  him.  The  boat  steerer 
had  struck  the  whale  abaft  the  vitals  ...  so 
that  it  was  yet  far  from  certain  whether  he  would 
be  captured. 

"The  whale  went  out  to  sea  two  or  three  miles, 
towing  the  boat  at  such  speed  that  it  did  not 
ride  over  the  waves  but  cut  through  them,  throw- 
ing spray  like  a  torpedo  boat.  Then  he  turned 
about  and  doubling  his  wake  sought  the  protection 
offered  by  the  shore  ice  near  the  ships.  The 
instant  the  whale  headed  shoreward  four  of  the 
captains  and  I  took  the  only  steam  whale  boat  in 
the  fleet  and  joined  in  the  chase,  as  there  was 
little  hope  of  saving  the  whale  unless  more  bomb 
lances  could  be  shot  into  him,  and  as  yet  not  one 
of  the  other  boats  had  had  opportunity  to  shoot 
him. 

"At  the  north  end  of  the  floe  was  a  bight  in  the 
ice.  The  whale  passed  in  under  the  ice  and 
suddenly  appeared  in  this  bight  to  blow.  .  .  . 
Before  he  could  sound  our  boat  had  steamed 
into  the  bight  and  was  alongside  of  him.  The 
captain  of  the  Lucretia  stood  in  the  forward  end 
of  the  boat  with  shoulder  gun  in  hand  ready  at 


Harpoons,  Lances,  Guns,  and   Boats     243 

the  proper  instant  to  shoot;  and  the  master  of 
the  Eliza  stood  amidships,  also  with  gun  in  hand. 
It  was  only  for  an  instant  that  we  saw  the  whale 
as  we  steamed  past  at  a  high  rate  of  speed.  But 
the  captains  were  alert.  There  were  two  loud 
reports  that  almost  deafened  us,  and  that  made 
the  boat  tremble  from  stem  to  stern.  The  whale 
gave  a  sweep  of  his  flukes  through  the  air  as  the 
bombs  exploded,  and  rolled  over  dead." 

Captain  Cogan,  who  carried  out  this  boat, 
in  his  report  regarding  its  work  the  first  year, 
said  that  it  was  "used  to  advantage  towing  boats 
to  windward  and  towing  whales  to  ship  in  light 
winds.  Found  her  most  useful  in  chasing  wounded 
whales  that  got  loose.  It  is  hard  for  a  whale 
to  get  away  from  her  in  open  water,  and  she  always 
got  fast  second  boat.  We  used  the  darting  gun, 
hand  lance,  and  bomb  lances.  We  got  two  whales 
with  her,  and  saved  one  wounded  whale  that  we 
would  have  lost  if  we  did  not  have  her.  .  .  . 
Used  properly,  one  steam  launch  is  a  big  advan- 
tage to  a  ship." 


X 

SKETCHES   AFLOAT  WITH  THE 
WHALERS 

THAT  the  original  deep-water  whaling  ves- 
sels were  manned  by  the  men  who  had 
built  and  owned  them  has  already  been 
noted.  On  the  return  of  such  a  ship  to  port  the 
crew  received  lays  or  shares,  in  proportion  to  the 
work  each  had  done,  and  then  the  remainder 
of  the  catch  was  divided  in  proportion  to  the 
share  each  owned  in  the  ship.  When  oil  was 
at  its  lowest  such  a  crew  could  live  by  their  fishing, 
and  when  it  was  high  they  might  grow  rich.  The 
energetic  and  ambitious  poor  man  never  had  a 
better  chance  to  get  on  in  the  world  than  in  the 
early  days  of  the  American  whale  fishery.  Nat- 
urally the  ambitious  poor  flocked  to  the  whaling 
ports,  and  the  population  of  those  ports  grew  in 
more  ways  than  one  with  the  growth  of  the  fishery. 
Thus  the  ships  were  then  supplied  with  excellent 
244 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        245 

crews.  Later  it  was  necessary  for  the  captains 
to  reach  out  to  the  near-by  towns  to  complete 
their  crews. 

"Captain  Isaiah  West,  now  eighty-six  years  of 
age,  tells  me  that  he  remembers  when  he  picked 
his  crew  within  a  radius  of  sixty  miles  of  New 
Bedford;  that  oftentimes  he  was  acquainted, 
either  personally  or  through  report,  with  the 
social  standing  or  business  standing  and  qualifi- 
cations of  every  man  on  his  vessel,  and  also  that 
he  remembers  the  first  foreigner,  an  Irishman, 
that  shipped  with  him,  the  circumstance  being 
commented  upon  at  that  time  as  being  a  remark- 
able one."  (James  Templeman  Brown.) 

Later  still  neither  the  whaling  ports  nor  the 
near-by  towns  could  furnish  men,  and  the  whaler 
captains  perforce  applied  to  the  crimps  (men  who 
made  a  business  of  supplying  crews  to  ships) 
of  all  the  Atlantic  ports  for  men.  They  sailed 
short-handed  and  touched  at  the  Azores  or  the 
Cape  de  Verdes  for  Portuguese  sailors,  all  of 
whom  were  whalers  accustomed  to  an  alongshore 
fishery.  They  reached  down  on  the  coast  of 
Africa  and  gathered  whom  they  could  find,  such 


246     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

as  the  marooned  crews  of  slavers  and  other  out- 
casts of  the  earth.  In  the  Pacific  they  stopped  at 
the  Islands  and  recruited  among  the  beach  comb- 
ers,—  white  degenerates  who  preferred  life  among 
the  cannibal  islanders,  but  were  willing  to  make  a 
voyage  now  and  then. 

In  the  columns  of  the  New  York  Sun,  on  July 
14,  1839,  appeared  the  following  advertisements: 

"Wanted  immediately,  100  enterprising  young 
men,  Americans,  to  go  on  whaling  voyages  in 
first-rate  ships.  Carpenters,  coopers,  and  black- 
smiths also  wanted.  The  present  is  a  very  desir- 
able opportunity  for  those  who  wish  to  take  a 
voyage  to  sea  to  learn  navigation  or  nautical 
improvement.  All  clothing  and  other  necessary 
articles  furnished  on  credit.  Apply  to  S.  &  J. 
N.  Luckey,  106  South  Street,  upstairs." 

"Wanted,  thirty  young  men  for  the  three  ships 
at  New  Bedford,  twenty-five  men  for  two  ships 
at  Fairhaven,  twelve  men  for  a  ship  at  New 
London,  ten  men  for  a  ship  at  Sag  Harbor.  By 
applying  immediately  at  Thomas  Lewis'  clothing 
store,  No.  15  James  Slip,  they  can  have  their 
choice  of  ships  and  places.  All  clothing  furnished 
on  credit." 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers       247 

It  was  an  advertisement  something  like  one  of 
those  that  drew  to  the  sea  J.  Ross  Brown,  whose 
Etchings  of  a  Whaling  Cruise  was  once  a  "best- 
seller" among  sea  stories.  He  had  grown  tired 
of  the  work  of  a  Washington  reporter,  and  on 
coming  to  New  York  thought  to  see  the  world 
from  the  deck  of  a  whale  ship. 

"You  think  we'll  do?"  he  asked  timidly  after 
he  and  a  companion  had  applied  to  a  crimp. 

"Oh,  no  doubt  about  it,"  replied  the  crimp. 
"I'm  willing  to  risk  you  though  I  may  lose  some- 
thing by  it.  If  you  are  determined  to  make  a  voy- 
age, I'll  put  you  in  the  way  of  shipping  in  a  most 
elegant  vessel,  well  fitted, —  that's  the  great  well- 
fitted  Vigilana,  and  activity  will  insure  your 
rapid  promotion.  I  haven't  the  last  doubt  but 
you  will  come  home  boat  steerers.  I  sent  off  six 
college  students  a  few  days  ago,  and  a  poor  fel- 
low who  had  been  flogged  away  from  home  by 
a  vicious  wife.  A  whaler,  gentlemen, —  a  whaler 
is  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  distressed  and  perse- 
cuted, a  school  for  the  dissipated,  an  asylum 
for  the  needy.  There's  nothing  like  it.  You  can 
see  the  world  —  you  can  see  something  of  life." 


248     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

In  this  way  the  "greenhorns"  were  tolled  to  the 
ship.  Like  Frank  Bullen  in  later  years,  Brown 
signed  for  the  voyage  although  he  had  no  idea 
of  what  he  was  to  receive  or  where  he  was  going. 

When  the  crew  had  been  gathered  they  were 
taken  to  the  ship,  and  she  was  usually  found  at 
anchor  well  out  in  the  bay,  lest  some  of  the  men 
desert  as  soon  as  they  learned  her  destination. 
In  the  early  days  it  was  the  custom  among  New 
Bedford  owners,  at  least,  to  go  on  board  the  de- 
parting whalers  with  a  company  of  friends  and 
give  the  ship  "a  send-off"  by  sailing  down  the  bay 
in  her,  and  serve  all  hands  with  a  fine  dinner  and 
something  to  drink.  But  that  would  never  do 
in  later  days.  The  anchor  was  got  up  as  soon 
as  possible  after  the  crew  came  on  board.  No 
one  of  the  whaler  writers  speaks  of  singing  a 
"chanty"  at  the  windlass,  but  Melville  says  in 
Moby  Dick  that  as  the  Pequod  reached  out  to  sea 
"lank  Bildad  as  pilot  headed  the  first  watch  and 
ever  and  anon  as  the  old  craft  deep  dived  into  the 
green  seas,  and  sent  the  shivering  frost  all  over 
her,  and  the  winds  howled  and  the  cordage  rang, 
his  steady  notes  were  heard : 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        249 

"  Sweet  fields  beyond  the  swelling  flood, 

Stand  dressed  in  living  green, 

So  to  the  Jews  old  Canaan  stood, 

While  Jordan  rolled  between." 

The  first  work  on  every  whaler,  after  reaching 
open  water,  was  the  training  of  the  raw  hands. 
Some  whaler  captains  allowed  them  to  rest  in  the 
forecastle  until  the  inevitable  seasickness  had 
worn  off,  but  as  a  rule  they  had  to  work  it  off. 
Bullen  says  of  his  first  evening  on  a  whaler : 

"Seven  stalwart  men  were  being  compelled  to 
march  up  and  down  on  that  tumbling  deck, 
men  who  had  never  before  trodden  anything  less 
solid  than  the  earth.  The  third  mate,  a  waspish, 
spiteful  little  Yankee,  with  a  face  like  an  angry 
cat,  strolled  about  among  them,  a  strand  of  rope 
yarns  in  his  hand,  which  he  wielded  constantly, 
regardless  of  where  he  struck  a  man.  They  fell 
about,  sometimes  four  at  once,  and  his  blows 
flew  thick  and  fast,  yet  he  never  seemed  to  weary 
of  his  ill  doing.  .  .  .  Such  brutality  I  never 
witnessed  before."  The  next  day,  however,  "in 
spite  of  their  treatment,  perhaps  because  of  it, 
some  of  the  poor  fellows  were  beginning  to  take 
hold  of  things  man  fashion." 


250     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

While  one  of  the  mates  trained  the  "green- 
horns," the  men  who  could  do  a  sailor's  work 
rigged  the  crows'  nests, —  little  platforms  on 
which  a  man  could  stand  high  up  above  the  sails 
on  each  mast.  Seats  were  fitted  on  some  of  these 
platforms,  and  all  were  provided  with  stout  hoops 
within  which  the  lookout  could  stand  safely. 
On  each  mast  two  men  were  usually  kept  through- 
out each  day,  on  the  lookout  for  whales,  and  their 
eyesight  was  sharpened  by  an  offer  of  ten  pounds 
of  tobacco,  sometimes  five  dollars,  as  a  reward 
to  the  one  who  first  announced  a  whale  that  the 
crew  succeeded  in  saving. 

The  boats  were  also  prepared  for  service.  In 
each  were  placed  three  or  four  harpoons,  two 
lances,  a  boat  spade,  a  short-handled  axe  or  two, 
and  a  stout  knife  or  two.  The  harpoon  lines  were 
carefully  coiled  into  the  tubs  which  were  put  into 
the  boats.  The  oars  and  the  mast  and  sails  were 
laid  in  ready  for  instant  use  and  then  a  keg  of 
water  and  one  of  bread,  a  lantern  with  candles, 
a  bucket  for  dipping,  a  dipper  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, and  a  small  flag  for  signalling  were  added. 
In  modern  boats,  at  least  one  gun  is  carried  with 
sufficient  ammunition. 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        251 

The  crews  were  divided  into  two  divisions  called 
watches,  —  "starboard"  and  "larboard."  "Star- 
board" and  "port"  are  the  designations  on  ordi- 
nary merchantmen.  The  mates  also  picked  crews 
for  their  boats,  four  men  for  each,  each  mate 
picking  a  man  in  turn,  beginning  with  the  first 
mate. 

As  soon  as  the  boats  were  ready  and  the  weather 
would  serve,  the  ship  was  hove  to,  —  a  part  of 
her  sails  were  placed  so  that  the  wind  would  pre- 
vent her  going  ahead, —  and  then  the  boats  were 
lowered  to  teach  the  crews  how  to  row.  A  log 
was  sometimes  allowed  to  drift  at  the  end  of  a 
line,  and  the  boats  were  rowed  close  to  it  in  order 
that  the  inexperienced  might  have  a  chance  to 
throw  dummy  harpoons  at  it.  In  these  drills  the 
ambitious  youngsters  of  the  old  days  took  part 
with  an  eager  zest  that  soon  made  them  whale- 
men; but  the  landsmen  who  had  been  "bam- 
boozled" on  board,  and  the  merchant  sailor  who 
had  shipped  through  a  misunderstanding,  always 
looked  upon  them  with  disgust. 

If  lucky,  additional  drill  was  had  when  a  school 
of  "blackfish"  appeared.  These  small  whales 


252     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

did  not  yield  much  oil,  but  the  chase  was  more 
realistic  than  rowing  aimlessly  around  the  ship 
and  harpooning  a  log.  Moreover,  the  flesh  of 
these  whales  is  very  good  eating,  and  fresh  meat 
is  a  treat  at  sea. 

Meals  were  served  at  7  130  A.M.,  at  noon,  and  at 
5  P.M.  Meat,  usually  boiled,  and  bread  were 
dumped  in  bulk  into  pans  and  carried  from  the 
galley,  or  cook  room,  to  the  forecastle,  where  the 
men  divided  it  and  ate  it  from  small  pans.  For 
drink  they  had  tea  and  coffee  sweetened  with 
"longlick" —  molasses.  On  the  better  class  of 
ships  the  cooks  made  scouse,  a  mixture  of  hard- 
tack (soaked  in  water)  and  meat;  or  of  beans, 
hardtack,  and  meat;  or  potatoes,  hardtack,  and 
meat.  The  memory  of  scouse  whets  the  appetite 
of  every  old  sailor  long  after  he  leaves  the  sea. 
Duff  was  a  mixture  of  flour,  lard,  and  some  kind 
of  cheap  fruit,  such  as  dried  apples.  The  mixture 
was  boiled  in  a  bag  and  then  served  with  molas- 
ses. "Plum  duff"  was  stuffed  with  raisins  —  and 
served  in  the  cabin.  The  meat  of  blackfish  and 
porpoises  was  often  boiled  with  "doughboys," 
or  dumplings  that  were  not  afflicted  with  any- 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        253 

thing  to  make  them  light,  but  they  were  always 
eaten  with  avidity.  The  men  ate  their  food  sit- 
ting on  benches  in  front  of  their  bunks  in  the  fore- 
castle. Young  gentlemen  accustomed  to  table 
elegancies  found  forecastle  conversation  and  eat- 
ing habits  deplorable  at  times,  until  custom  had 
changed  their  habits  of  thought. 

Finally  a  day  came  when  a  lookout  saw  the 
spout  of  a  whale,  or  the  form  of  a  whale  breeching, 
or  the  tail  of  a  whale  lashing  the  water,  and 
straightway  he  roused  the  ship  by  bawling : 

"There  she  b-1-o-w-s !  Blows!  B-1-o-w-s ! 
There  she  breeches!  There  she  white-waters!" 

The  crews  hurried  to  their  boats  and  the  captain 
climbed  to  the  main  crow's  nest.  The  ship  was 
headed  for  the  whale,  the  "pod,"  or  the  "school," 
as  the  case  might  be,  and  then  when  the  captain 
thought  her  near  enough,  he  ordered  the  boats 
away.  The  mate  in  each  boat  took  the  steering 
oar,  and  the  harpooner  the  bow  oar.  The  light- 
est man  in  the  crew  had  the  stroke  oar  and  also 
attended  the  sheet  of  the  mainsail.  His  oar  was 
formerly  12  or  14  feet  long,  but  may  now  be  no 
more  than  9.  The  oarsman  forward  of  the 


254     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

stroke  had  charge  of  the  line  tub  and  pulled  a 
heavy  oar, —  12  to  16  feet  long.  The  next  oars- 
man had  a  still  longer  oar,  —  formerly  as  much 
as  1 8  feet  long,  — while  the  man  forward  of  him, 
who  was  called  the  bow  oarsman,  had  a  shorter 
oar  and  was  required  to  attend  to  stepping  the 
mast  and  taking  it  down.  The  harpooner,  called 
boat  steerer  usually,  pulled  a  light  oar.  The 
mate  steered  the  boat  with  an  oar  from  19  to  22 
feet  long.  The  long  oars  formerly  used  went  out 
of  fashion  because  it  was  found  that  they  wore 
out  the  men  in  any  but  the  shortest  pulls. 

With  sail  alone  in  a  good  wind,  with  oars  and 
sail  in  a  light  wind,  and  with  oars  alone  in  light 
airs  and  up  wind,  the  boats  headed  away  for  the 
whale.  When  approaching  under  oars  the  men 
put  them  away,  and  took  paddles  as  they  drew 
near  the  whale.  The  ship  was  usually  left  in 
charge  of  the  captain,  the  cook,  the  cooper,  and 
an  idler  or  two.  If  the  captain  "lowered,"  the 
cooper  was  ship  keeper. 

The  wildest  boat  races  the  world  ever  saw  were 
those  made  in  chase  of  whales  by  boats  from  rival 
ships,  —  especially  from  ships  of  different  nation- 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        255 

alities.  With  English,  French,  Portuguese,  and 
Americans  pulling  for  one  whale,  every  man  worked 
with  all  his  might  for  the  honor  of  the  flag;  and 
that  is  a  fact  worth  considering.  In  one  race  — 
the  story  is  a  classic  among  American  whalemen 
—  an  English  and  an  American  boat  chased  a 
whale  in  Delagoa  Bay.  The  Englishmen  were 
able  to  cut  in  between  the  whale  and  the  American 
boat,  but  as  they  drew  up  beside  the  whale,  and 
the  Englishman  at  the  bow  reached  for  his  iron, 
the  American  harpooner  leaped  to  his  feet  and 
"pitchpoled"  his  harpoon  clear  over  the  English 
boat  and  struck  the  whale. 

To  "pitchpole"  is  to  throw  a  harpoon  with 
both  hands  through  a  high  curve  to  a  long  range. 
In  "pitchpoling"  the  harpooner  generally  rests 
the  top  end  of  the  harpoon  handle  in  the  palm 
of  his  right  hand  and  then,  steadying  the  weapon 
with  the  left  hand,  gives  it  a  toss. 

As  the  harpoon  in  the  Delagoa  Bay  race  struck 
the  whale,  the  harpoon  line  fell  across  the  English 
boat.  The  English  crew  were  placed  in  deadly 
peril,  but  they  managed  to  get  clear  of  the  line 
before  a  strain  came  upon  it.  Then  the  Ameri- 


256     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

cans  went  on  and  killed  the  whale.  The  writer 
has  been  unable  to  find  an  account  of  any  race  in 
which  Americans  were  beaten ;  apparently  beaten 
Yankees  were  too  much  ashamed  of  themselves 
to  record  their  experiences. 

To  the  "greenhorn"  the  row  to  the  whale  was 
often  a  period  of  painful  terror. 

"Y'r  a  smart  youngster,  an'  I've  kinder  took 
to  yer,"  said  the  mate  to  Frank  Bullen  as  he  pulled 
toward  his  first  whale;  "but  don't  ye  look  ahead 
and  get  gallied,  'r  I'll  knock  ye  stiff  wi'  th'  tiller; 
ye  hear  me  ?  An'  don't  ye  dare  to  make  thet 
sheet  fast,  'r  ye'll  die  so  sudden  y'  won't  know 
where  y'r  hurted." 

It  was  a  necessary  warning,  for  green  hands 
have  been  known  to  jump  overboard  in  a  panic 
on  finding  themselves  alongside  a  whale.  By 
sailing  as  well  as  rowing,  Bullen's  boat  reached 
the  whale. 

"  *  Stand  up,  Louey  !'  said  the  mate  softly.  .  .  . 
Suddenly  there  was  a  bump;  at  the  same  moment 
the  mate  yelled,  'Give  't  to  him  !  Give  't  to  him  !' 
and  to  me,  'Haul  that  main  sheet,  naow  haul, 
why  don't  ye?'  I  hauled  it  flat  aft  and  the  boat 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        257 

shot  up  into  the  wind,  rubbing  sides  as  she  did  so 
with  what,  to  my  troubled  sight,  seemed  an  enor- 
mous mass  of  black  india  rubber  floating." 

The  whale  up  tail  and  sounded.  The  men 
made  haste  to  take  down  the  mast  with  its  sails 
and  stow  the  bundle  aft  by  sticking  the  heel  of 
the  mast  under  the  afterthwart  and  allowing  two- 
thirds  of  the  bundle  to  project  beyond  the  stern 
of  the  boat.  The  mate  went  forward  and  the 
harpooner  came  aft  and  took  up  the  steering  oar, 
thus  becoming  the  boat  steerer  and  earning  the 
name  by  which  he  was  known  on  the  ship. 

As  the  line  ran  out,  the  boat  steerer  threw  turns 
around  the  post  standing  in  the  stern  until  the 
strain  made  the  bow  of  the  boat  plunge  down 
to  the  water's  edge  while  the  stern  rose  high.  It 
was  in  this  manner  that  whales  were  usually 
struck. 

The  custom  under  which  the  boat  steerer  struck 
the  whale  and  then  went  aft,  while  the  mate  went 
forward  to  lance  the  whale,  seemed  to  be  foolish 
and  dangerous  to  Herman  Melville.  He  thought 
the  mate  should  both  strike  and  lance  the  whale. 
As  the  whalers  saw  the  matter,  however,  the  most 


258     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

experienced  man  was  needed  at  the  steering  oar 
until  the  whale  was  struck,  and  then  he  was  needed 
at  the  lance.  Moreover,  placing  a  man  of  less 
experience  at  the  harpoon  gave  him  a  good  train- 
ing. Young  men  of  agility  were  often  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  harpooner  during  their  first  voyage. 
Bullen  was  promoted  still  higher  —  he  became 
fourth  mate.  The  ambitious  youth  could  have 
his  chance  at  all  times  in  the  whale  fishery,  even 
in  ships  commanded  by  hard  men,  indeed,  per- 
haps sooner  in  them  than  in  others. 

Of  the  incidents  and  accidents  that  have  fol- 
lowed the  striking  of  whales,  so  many  extraor- 
dinary stories  have  been  told  that  one  comes  to 
think  that  the  extraordinary  is  the  ordinary  event, 
if  such  an  expression  may  be  allowed.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  note,  too,  that  in  nearly  every  story 
of  the  kind  some  one  of  the  boat's  crew  appears 
in  the  character  of  hero.  Consider  as  an  example 
a  tale  told  of  Amos  C.  Baker,  who  was  third  mate 
of  the  bark  Awashonks  in  1864,  and  afterward 
for  many  years  keeper  of  Clark's  Point  light- 
house, near  New  Bedford.  On  October  13  of 
the  year  mentioned,  the  Awashonks  raised  two 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        259 

whales  off  the  coast  of  Patagonia.  Three  boats 
were  lowered,  including  that  of  Mr.  Baker,  and 
they  took  the  whales  head  and  head.  The  mate 
got  fast  first,  and  then  Mr.  Baker,  after  a  vain 
effort  to  reach  the  other  whale,  pulled  in  where  his 
harpooner  threw  two  irons  into  the  mate's  whale. 
In  the  usual  course  Mr.  Baker  then  went  forward 
and  used  his  lance,  but  at  the  instant  he  shoved 
the  steel  home  the  whale  caught  his  boat  with 
its  tail,  and  the  next  thing  Baker  knew  he  was 
lying  in  a  half  of  the  boat.  The  other  half  had 
been  reduced  to  splinters,  and  one  of  Baker's 
legs  had  been  broken  above  the  knee.  After 
saving  the  whale  (Baker's  lance  thrust  killed 
it)  the  other  boat  took  the  young  man  to  the  ship, 
where  he  lay  in  his  bunk  for  eighty  days.  When 
at  last  he  was  able  to  walk  on  crutches,  he  hap- 
pened to  be  on  deck  when  a  whale  was  raised. 
All  the  boats  having  been  ordered  away,  Baker 
took  his  place  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  the 
other  officers,  and  leaning  on  the  heavy  steering 
oar  in  place  of  a  crutch,  he  put  his  boat  where  his 
harpooner  was  able  to  give  the  whale  first  iron. 
Among  the  classic  tales  of  the  whale  fishery  is 


260     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

that  of  the  loss  of  the  Ann  Alexander,  of  New 
Bedford.  This  ship  was  on  the  "Offshore 
Grounds" — west  of  Chili  and  Peru  —  when  on 
August  20,  1850,  a  "pod"  of  whales  appeared 
and  three  boats  were  lowered,  Captain  John  S. 
Deblois  going  in  one  of  them.  The  mate's  boat 
soon  struck  one  of  the  "pod,"  but  the  monster 
instantly  turned  with  jaws  open  and  the  men 
fled  overboard  just  in  time  to  save  their  lives. 
A  moment  later  the  whale  bit  the  boat  to  pieces. 
Such  a  disaster  as  this,  though  shocking  enough 
to  a  "greenhorn,"  was  a  common  experience 
among  the  whalemen.  Captain  Deblois  at  once 
pulled  in,  picked  up  the  boat's  crew,  and  shifted 
a  part  of  them  to  the  second  mate's  boat.  Then 
both  the  captain  and  the  second  mate  started  to 
attack  the  whale,  which  had  been  busy,  meantime, 
biting  at  the  pieces  of  the  boat  it  had  destroyed. 
In  the  usual  course  a  whale  thus  engaged  would 
not  have  noticed  the  approach  of  the  boats  for  a 
second  attack;  but  this  one  had  its  eyes  open, 
and  it  turned  to  meet  the  enemy  more  than  half- 
way. Rushing  forward  with  a  speed  and  agility 
that  no  boat  could  escape,  it  grasped  the  second 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        261 

mate's  boat,  as  it  had  that  of  the  mate,  and  liter- 
ally bit  it  into  kindling  wood. 

Captain  Deblois  was  a  fighting  man;  the  fact 
that  he  had  gone  afloat  where  it  was  the  whaler 
custom  for  a  captain  to  remain  on  the  ship  and 
allow  the  mates  to  do  the  fighting,  proves  that  he 
was  a  man  of  aggressive  courage.  But  when  he 
had  once  more  picked  his  men  from  the  sea  (they 
had  escaped  as  before  by  jumping  overboard),  he 
headed  for  the  ship,  and  when  there  he  sent  the 
mate  to  gather  up  the  oars  and  such  other  debris 
as  might  have  escaped  the  fury  of  the  whale. 
In  his  view  it  was  his  duty  to  fill  his  ship  with  oil, 
and  not  to  "whale  for  glory,"  as  persistence  in 
fighting  a  whale  of  this  kind  was  sometimes  called. 

The  mate,  however,  was  of  more  reckless  dis- 
position. He  gathered  the  debris  as  ordered,  and 
then,  when  returning  to  the  ship,  managed  to  get 
within  range  of  the  whale  and  thrust  a  lance  into 
it.  Unfortunately,  however,  he  failed  to  reach 
a  vital  point,  and  the  whale,  ignoring  the  small 
boat,  made  a  dash  at  the  ship,  striking  her  abreast 
the  foremast  and  crushing  in  her  side.  She  sank 
so  rapidly  that  the  crew  were  unable  to  secure 


262     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

more  than  three  gallons  of  water,  and  they  would 
have  perished  speedily  in  their  open  boats  but  for 
the  fact  that  they  were  picked  up  by  another 
whale  ship. 

Of  course  whale-ship  owners  always  cautioned 
their  officers  not  to  do  such  reckless  things;  they 
all  said  that  needless  risks  were  to  be  avoided; 
but  the  fact  was  that  if  the  mate  had  succeeded 
when  he  made  that  last  attack  he  would  have 
sailed  on  his  next  voyage  as  a  shipmaster,  and 
very  well  he  knew  it. 

Memorable  in  a  different  way  was  Captain 
Sparks,  of  the  Provincetown  whaling  schooner 
Edward  Lee.  During  the  afternoon  of  May  14, 
1 88 1,  Captain  Sparks  and  his  mate  lowered  their 
boats  in  pursuit  of  whales.  By  good  luck  and 
good  work  the  mate  soon  killed  one  which  he 
secured  alongside  the  schooner  and  then  began 
the  usual  work  of  cutting  in  the  blubber.  Cap- 
tain Sparks  went  after  a  whale  that  was  shy,  and 
it  led  him  such  a  race  that  when  he  at  last  gave 
up  all  hope  of  securing  it,  and  tried  to  find  his 
way  back,  he  was,  through  some  error  of  his  own 
or  upon  the  schooner,  unable  to  do  so. 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        263 

Captain  Sparks  and  his  men  were  adrift  in  the 
torrid  zone,  a  thousand  miles  from  land,  in  an 
open  boat  twenty-eight  feet  long.  The  keg  of 
water  which  they  had  taken  with  them  when 
leaving  the  ship  had  been  emptied  before  the  pur- 
suit of  the  whale  was  abandoned.  For  six  days 
they  sailed  toward  the  land  with  no  food  nor  any 
water  except  a  little  saved  during  rain  squalls. 
Then  a  school  of  whales  appeared.  To  the  mind 
of  any  ordinary  whaler,  knowing,  as  all  do,  the 
ugly  disposition  of  the  bulls  usually  found  with 
such  schools  as  this  was,  the  whales  were  to  be 
avoided  by  a  crew  in  the  condition  of  Captain 
Sparks  and  his  men.  To  the  captain,  however, 
they  seemed  to  offer  a  chance  for  life,  and  he  and 
his  men,  rising  superior  to  the  weakness  that 
weighed  them  down,  pulled  into  the  school  and 
killed  a  whale  that  they  might  eat  its  flesh.  Later 
they  were  picked  up  and  brought  to  land. 

In  a  Diary  of  a  Whaling  Cruise,  by  Victor 
Slocum,  published  in  the  Forest  and  Stream,  in 
December,  1907,  is  a  story  that  describes  a  not 
uncommon  experience  of  the  whalemen  after 
striking  a  whale.  It  says: 


264     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"We  jumped  the  boat  ahead  and  darted  two 
irons,  which  started  him  off  at  a  high  speed  to 
windward,  and  the  people  on  the  ship  told  us  after- 
ward that  we  literally  skipped  from  one  sea  to  the 
next.  All  we  were  conscious  of  was  the  fact  that 
the  boat  simply  rested  on  her  keel  and  the  spray 
flew  over  us  in  great  sheets. 

"At  last  he  slacked  up  and  gave  us  a  chance 
to  put  in  a  bomb  lance.  He  made  a  rush  to  lee- 
ward, to  where  we  had  left  the  dead  whale, — 
straight  as  a  die  and  right  over  him, —  dragging 
us  over,  too,  of  course,  all  the  time  spouting  blood. 
Then  he  dove  under  us  and  came  up  with  his 
blow-hole  right  under  the  nose  of  the  mate,  who 
was  looking  over  the  side  for  him,  and  he  got  the 
spout  of  thick  blood  right  in  the  face  at  less  than 
a  yard  distance.  Of  course  it  spattered  all  of  us, 
and  when  we  hauled  alongside  with  our  two 
whales  we  all  looked  as  much  like  murderers  as 
anything  else." 

More  men  lost  their  lives  through  the  flying 
harpoon  line  than  in  any  other  way.  As  the 
sounding  whale  dragged  out  the  line  a  coil  very 
often  caught  around  a  man's  body  or  limb  and 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        265 

carried  him  down.  Cases  where  a  man  was  taken 
down  so  swiftly  that  the  crew  did  not  see  it  done 
are  on  record.  Sometimes  the  line  jammed  in 
the  crotch  in  the  bow  of  the  boat  and  carried 
boat  and  all  down.  Sometimes  the  whale  came 
to  the  surface,  striking  the  bottom  of  the  boat 
through  accident.  Men  were  kicked  overboard 
by  the  bomb-throwing  guns.  Bullen  suffered 
this  mishap,  and  then,  in  trying  to  save  himself, 
he  unwittingly  dragged  himself  up  on  top  of  the 
whale  he  had  shot  just  as  it  was  going  into  its 
death  flurry.  He  managed  to  cling  to  the  harpoon 
during  the  flurry,  but  was  laid  up  for  three  weeks 
after  he  was  rescued. 

An  interesting  story  of  a  whale  boat  lost  from 
a  ship  is  that  told  by  Captain  Roland  F.  Coffin  in 
An  Old  Sailor  s  Tarns.  Coffin  was  in  the  captain's 
boat,  and  the  captain  held  on  to  a  whale  that  ran 
away  all  one  night.  They  killed  the  whale  in  the 
morning,  "waifed"  it,  and  then  started  to  sail 
back  and  find  the  ship. 

"We  missed  the  ship  some  way.  Arter  runnin' 
till  noon  the  next  day  and  seein'  nothin'  of  her, 
the  old  man  made  up  his  mind  that  we  had  run 


266     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

by  her;  that  she  was  a-workin'  up  to  windward 
to  look  for  us,  and  had  reached  so  far  over  our 
track  as  to  be  out  of  our  sight  when  we  passed  her. 
'So/says  he,  *  'tain't  no  use  to  run  off  any  further, 
and  'tain't  no  use  pullin'  to  windward,  and  the 
best  thing  we  can  do  is  jist  to  lay  still,  and  she'll 
cruise  about  till  she  finds  us/ 

"Well,  we  laid  still  for  twenty-four  hours  longer, 
and  then  our  grub  was  very  near  all  used  up, 
and  things  was  a-lookin'  bad  for  us;  so  we  set 
sail  and  concluded  we'd  reach  back  and  forth  on 
a  wind,  and  we  done  so  ...  till  near  six  o'clock, 
when  just  as  we  was  a-goin'  round  one  of  the 
chaps  who  had  stood  up  for  to  git  a  good  look 
sings  out  'Land  ho!'  Up  we  all  jumped  in  a 
jiffy,  and  there,  sure  enough,  about  two  p'ints 
on  the  lee  bow,  was  a  small  island." 

They  landed  on  the  island  at  daylight  the  next 
morning.  It  was  one  of  the  coral  reefs  common  to 
certain  parts  of  the  Pacific,  and  one  not  found  on 
the  charts. 

"What  we  wanted  jist  then  more  than  anythin' 
else  was  somethin'  for  to  drink.  We  hadn't  had 
no  water  for  nearly  twenty-four  hours.  You  may 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers       267 

jist  imagine,  then,  how  glad  we  was  when  one  of 
the  party  by  the  name  of  Tom  Bunker  —  he 
belonged  to  Nantucket  —  sung  out,  *  Here's  a 
spring  ! '  You  see,  sir,  there  was  six  of  us  all  told, 
and  the  old  man  had  made  us  separate  as  far 
apart  as  we  could  and  yet  be  within  hail,  and  so 
go  across  the  island  for  to  survey  it  like  and  try 
for  to  find  wood  and  water.  At  Tom's  hail, 
hows'ever,  we  all  come  to  at  once  and  ranged  up 
to  him,  and  sure  enough,  here  was  a  little  spring 
of  beautiful  clear  water.  If  you  want  to  know 
what  first-class  tipple  is  you  must  try  spring  water 
arter  you've  been  in  a  boat  twenty-four  hours" 
without  any.  Tom  told  us  that  afore  he  come 
up  with  the  spring  he  seen  the  whole  ground  alive 
with  some  kind  of  creepin'  animal,  but  what  they 
was  he  couldn't  tell.  Well,  we  didn't  hyst  that 
in  exactly,  but  we  thought  that  maybe  Tom's 
bein'  so  long  on  the  water  without  anythin'  for 
to  drink  had  made  him  kind  of  loony,  and  so 
he  imagined  he  seen  animals  when  he  hadn't. 
'What's  funny  about  this  here  island,'  says  the 
old  man,  'is  that  there  ain't  no  birds  onto  it. 
I've  landed  on  plenty  of  islands  afore  which  didn't 


268     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

have  no  natives  onto  'em,  and  there  was  always 
thousands  of  birds;  and  here,  exceptin'  some  gulls 
a-flyin'  over  the  reef,  we  ain't  seen  a  bird.' 

"Talkin'  about  inhabitants,'  says  one  of  the 
chaps,  just  then,  'what  do  you  call  that  thing 
yonder  ?'  We  looked  where  he  p'inted  and  there, 
sure  enough,  was  a  native.  He  appeared  for  to 
be  kind  of  frightened  at  us,  and  kept  at  a  respect- 
ful distance,  and  as  we  advanced  he  retreated. 
So  the  old  man,  he  says,  'You  stay  here,  my  lads, 
and  I'll  go  for'ard  alone,  and  then  maybe  it  won't 
be  so  much  afeerd.'  So  we  sits  down  and  the 
old  man  he  goes  on  ahead,  puttin'  his  hands  onto 
his  breast,  and  a-makin'  all  sort  of  motions  for 
to  show  that  he  didn't  mean  no  harm;  and  finally 
the  savage  seemed  to  understand,  and  stopped 
still  for  to  let  our  old  man  come  up.  But  it  seemed, 
as  he  told  us  arterward,  when  he  got  within  hailin' 
distance,  all  of  a  sudden  the  native,  as  we  had  took 
it  to  be,  runned  toward  him,  and  with  a  kind  of 
a  yell  like  jist  tumbled  down  all  into  a  bunch 
at  his  feet.  Well,  we  heerd  the  yell  the  critter 
gave,  and  we  rushed  up  to  where  the  old  man  was, 
and  if  ever  I  see  a  man  flabbergasted  completely, 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        269 

it  was  that  old  man.  'Boys/  says  he,  'that  ain't 
no  native;  it's  a  woman  and  a  white  woman  at 
that;  and  how  on  earth  she  got  here  beats  me 
entirely.' 

"Well,  she  soon  come  around  to  herself,  and 
if  ever  you  see  a  critter  delighted  for  to  see  any- 
body that  there  critter  was  delighted  for  to  see 
us.  And  the  first  words  she  said  when  she  come 
to  was:  'It  ain't  no  dream;  you  are  real.  Thank 
God,  I  am  saved  ! ' 

"Well,  as  to  that,  marm,'  says  our  old  man, 
'of  course  we'll  do  anythin'  for  you  that's  in 
our  power;  but  whether  you  be  saved  or  not, 
there's  different  opinions  about,  but  there  ain't 
no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  we  are  lost.'" 

The  lone  woman  was  the  wife  of  the  captain 
of  a  whale  ship  that  had  been  lost  with  all  hands 
except  her  on  the  reef.  She  had  been  washed 
ashore  and  then  had  managed  to  save  enough 
from  the  wreck  to  make  herself  comfortable  so 
far  as  living  was  concerned,  and  there  she  had 
remained  for  five  years. 

"Well,  it  was  a  good  job  for  us,  anyway.  When 
we  got  to  her  hut  she  says  to  our  old  man,  'Now 


270     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

you  and  your  men  sit  down  here  behind  the  house, 
and  I'll  go  to  work  for  to  cook  you  a  breakfast.  Of 
course  I  didn't  expect  company,  and  so  I  haven't 
got  none  ready  at  present;  but  there's  plenty 
here  and  I  won't  be  long  a-gittin'  of  it.'  Well, 
she  takes  a  stick  that  looked  somethin'  like  a 
boat's  tiller  and  away  she  went  into  the  grove 
of  cocoanuts,  and  we  seen  her  a-runnin'  back 
and  forth  a-strikin'  at  somethin'  on  the  ground, 
but  whatever  it  was  we  didn't  know,  and  to  tell 
the  truth  we  didn't  care.  Fact  was  we  was  all 
pretty  well  tuckered  out,  and  gittin'  where  all 
things  was  comfortable  and  a  good  breakfast 
promised  us,  we  jist  give  up  and  stretched  down 
onto  the  grass  and  went  to  sleep.  The  old  man 
sot  the  example,  and  I  heerd  him  a-borin'  pump- 
log  afore  I  dropped  off.  I  was  woke  up  by 
one  of  the  finest  smells  of  cookin'  I  ever  smelt, 
and  it  fetched  me  right  up  onto  my  feet  to  onct, 
and  I  went  along  to  where  the  woman  had  her 
fire,  —  jist  some  stones  with  a  fire  built  onto 
'em,  —  and  found  that  what  I  smelt  come  from 
a  big  sasspan  whicrushe  had  over  the  fire.  'Wait 
a  few  minits,'  says  she;  'it's  a'most  done;  and  if 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        271 

you  don't  say  it's  a  good  stew,  then  call  me  a  bad 
cook.'  The  smell  had  waked  up  the  rest  of  the 
chaps  by  this  time,  and  we  was  all  ready  for  our 
meal  when  she  dished  it  up.  Well,  sir,  I  never 
eat  anything  like  that  stew  in  all  my  born  days. 
I  s'pose  it  was  because  I  was  hungry,  partly,  but 
then  it  really  was  extremely  nice  as  she  made  it, 
for  we  had  it  often  after  that  when  we  wasn't  so 
sharp  set. 

"The  woman  she  looked  on  quite  delighted 
for  to  see  us  eat,  and  a-fillin'  each  chap's  dish 
as  fast  as  it  was  empty;  but  arter  she  had  helped 
us  all  around  for  the  sixth  time  .  .  .  says  she, 
Til  bet  you  don't  any  of  you  know  what  you've 
been  eatin'.' 

"Well,  marm,'  said  our  skipper,  'that  'ere 
was  jist  the  question  I  was  a-goin'  for  to  ask  you; 
this  here's  a  powerful  good  stew,  and  shows  that 
you're  a  fust-class  cook,  —  but  that  of  course 
you  would  be,  comin'  from  Nantucket,  —  but 
I  hain't  seen  no  birds  onto  the  island,  and  I  can't 
jist  judge  from  the  taste  what  sort  of  a  animal 
you've  made  it  of.' 

"Well,'  says  she,  'that  there  was  a  rat  stew, 


272     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  rats  is  now  about  the  only  livin'  thing  there 
is  upon  the  island  except  ourselves,  and  I  begun 
to  think  that  if  they  increased  much  more  they'd 
eat  me  as  they  have  everythin'  else/" 

The  rats  had  come  from  the  wrecked  ship, 
"the  numerous  eggs  in  the  birds'  nests  provin' 
a  great  temptation,"  and  they  had  driven  the 
birds  from  the  reef.  They  had  then  begun  to 
clear  the  cocoanut  trees,  and  the  lost  sailors  found 
themselves  face  to  face  with  the  problem  of  con- 
trolling the  increase  of  the  rats  under  penalty 
of  starvation.  But  while  they  were  working 
at  the  problem  in  sailor  fashion  —  "we  had  rat 
to  eat  all  ways,  roast  rat,  broiled  rat,  fried  rat, 
rat  fricassee,  and  rat  stew"  —  the  ship  to  which 
they  belonged  arrived  off  the  island  and  took 
them  away,  leaving  the  rats  in  full  control. 

In  the  usual  course,  after  a  whale  had  been 
harpooned  it  sounded  and  then,  on  returning 
to  the  surface,  went  swimming  away  as  if  in 
search  of  a  far  country.  The  crew  then  faced 
forward  and  grasping  the  line  hauled  in  and 
pulled  the  boat  closer  to  the  whale,  if  possible. 
If  the  speed  of  the  whale  was  so  great  they  could 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        273 

not  do  this,  they  waited  until  the  whale  became 
tired  and  slackened  speed,  say  from  ten  or  twelve 
knots  down  to  five  or  six.  As  the  boat  was  then 
hauled  near  it  was  steered  out  around  the  thrash- 
ing tail.  The  mate  sometimes  reached  out  for- 
ward of  the  bow  of  the  boat,  clutched  the  line, 
drew  it  aft  by  main  strength,  and  handed  the 
bight  to  the  bow  oarsman,  who  held  it,  leaving 
the  mate  free.  If  the  harpoon  was  planted  well 
forward,  it  was  not  necessary  to  do  this.  In  any 
way  possible  the  boat  was  drawn  up  until  the  mate, 
standing  in  the  bow,  was  able  to  reach  out  with 
the  lance  and  drive  it  into  the  vitals  of  the  whale. 

To  this  day  the  old  hand  lances  are  used  in 
open  water,  for  who  would  throw  away  a  five- 
dollar  bomb  when  the  hand  lance  would  serve  ? 

Having  killed  the  whale  the  carcass  was  usually 
towed  to  the  ship,  though  it  often  happened  that 
the  ship  could  be  sailed  to  the  carcass.  Towing 
a  whale  was  the  hardest  work  known  to  the  sea; 
for  nothing  wilts  a  man  like  plying  the  oars  when 
he  cannot  see  that  the  boat  is  making  any  progress. 

Right  whales  very  often  sank  as  soon  as  dead, 
and  sperm  whales  did  so  sometimes.  In  her 


274     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

first  voyage  the  Charles  Phelps  saved  five  sperm 
whales  and  twenty-nine  right  whales.  Ten  others 
were  killed,  only  to  have  them  sink.  The  lines 
parted  when  six  others  were  struck  (an  unusual 
proportion,  showing  that  she  had  cheap  warp), 
and  from  twelve  that  were  struck  the  irons  drew 
out,  showing  that  she  did  not  carry  toggle-irons. 
Her  record  was  that  of  the  average  of  her  day. 
In  shoal  waters  like  those  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea, 
sunken  whales  were  sometimes  buoyed  and 
watched  until  the  gases  of  decomposition  brought 
them  to  the  surface.  A  special  harpoon  was 
invented  for  raising  sunken  whales  from  shoal 
depths.  This  harpoon  had  enormous  barbs  and 
it  was  of  extraordinary  weight,  —  made  so  with 
cast  iron.  It  was  fitted  with  rings  that,  when 
slipped  over  the  taut-drawn  harpoon  line  which 
had  gone  down  with  the  dead  whale,  would  serve 
as  guides  or  fair-leaders  to  keep  the  instrument 
pointed  at  the  whale  as  it  dropped  down  through 
the  water.  Such  a  harpoon,  sliding  down  the 
warp,  would  often  sink  into  the  carcass  and  hold 
there  until  the  stout  line  that  was  always  fastened 
to  it  could  be  wound  around  the  ship's  windlass, 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        275 

and  lift  the  carcass  to  the  surface  "like  a  speared 
sucker,"  as  a  whaleman  said  to  the  writer. 

Sometimes  a  boat  abandoned,  for  the  time, 
a  whale  that  it  had  killed  in  order  to  pursue  an- 
other near  at  hand.  When  two  whales  were 
killed  by  one  boat's  crew  they  sometimes  left 
one  afloat  where  it  died  while  they  towed  the 
other  to  the  ship.  In  every  whale  left  adrift 
the  men  planted  a  signal  flag  called  the  "waif." 
The  "waif"  was  to  guide  the  searchers  who 
always  went  after  the  carcass. 

When  the  boats  were  lowered,  the  men  remain- 
ing on  the  ship  kept  a  careful  lookout,  watching 
the  whales  and  the  boats.  If  the  whales  were 
not  instantly  found  by  the  boats'  crews,  these 
lookouts  signalled  the  location  of  the  whale  by 
waving  a  flag  kept  at  the  masthead  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  by  manipulating  the  sails  in  various 
ways.  Every  ship  had  its  own  private  code  of 
signals  for  such  occasions,  and  the  display,  when 
the  boats  of  several  ships  were  following  one 
whale,  was  sometimes  wildly  exciting. 

After  towing  a  dead  whale  to  the  ship  the  crew 
secured  it  alongside  by  means  of  a  chain  that 


276     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

was  looped  around  the  "small"  and  then  taken 
in  through  a  port  in  the  bow  of  the  ship  and  made 
fast  to  a  stout  timber-head  provided  for  the  pur- 
pose. By  keeping  the  ship  under  easy  sail  the 
body  of  the  whale  floated  close  alongside.  A 
staging  or  scaffold  was  rigged  out  from  the  side 
of  the  ship  in  such  a  way  that  the  body  of  the 
whale  floated  between  it  and  the  ship,  and  yet 
at  some  distance  below  it.  On  this  staging  the 
first  and  the  second  mates  usually  worked  with 
spades  —  chisels  with  handles  from  twelve  to 
twenty  feet  long  —  to  cut  the  blubber  from  the 
carcass.  A  stout  railing  on  the  side  next  to  the 
ship  was  provided,  and  against  this  the  officers 
leaned  as  they  worked  at  the  whale.  Two  huge 
tackles  were  suspended  from  aloft  and  a  "blubber 
hook"  at  the  bottom  of  one  of  these  was  inserted 
into  a  hole  that  was  cut  into  the  whale  between 
the  eye  and  the  fin.  When  this  had  been  done 
the  whale's  head  was  cut  off  and  allowed  to  float, 
at  the  end  of  a  stout  line,  astern  of  the  ship  while 
the  blubber  was  stripped  in  a  long  spiral  from  the 
body.  In  stripping  the  blubber  the  men  hoisted 
away  on  the  tackle  that  had  been  hooked  into  the 


Cutting  in  a  Whale 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        277 

blubber  near  the  eye,  and  the  officers  cut  through  the 
blubber  in  such  a  way  as  to  release  a  long  strip. 
When  the  tackle  had  been  run  up  as  high  as 
possible  another  one  was  hooked  into  the  blubber 
at  the  level  of  the  scaffolding  and  then  the  part 
above  this  tackle  was  cut  loose  with  a  long- 
handled,  long-bladed  knife,  called  a  boarding 
knife.  The  big  pieces  of  blubber  thus  secured 
were  called  blanket  pieces,  and  they  were  from 
three  to  six  feet  wide  by  perhaps  twenty  feet 
long.  They  were  lowered  into  the  hold  as  fast 
as  secured,  until  the  body  was  stripped.  The 
head  was  then  cared  for.  The  head  of  the  sperm 
whale  was  peculiar.  The  lower  jaw  was  long 
and  slender.  The  part  above  the  mouth  was 
composed  of  a  tough  gristle  called  "white-horse." 
Above  that  was  a  boneless  layer  of  blubber  called 
the  "junk,"  and  above  that  a  huge  cell  —  really 
a  great  tank  —  that  was  filled  with  a  superior 
quality  of  oil  in  a  liquid  condition.  The  entire 
head  of  a  small  sperm  whale  was  hoisted  in  on 
deck  and  there  cut  up.  The  lower  jaw  of  a  large 
sperm  whale  was  taken  in  first  of  all;  then  the 
"white-horse"  and  "junk"  were  separated  and 


278     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

hoisted,  each  by  itself,  on  deck.  The  "case," 
as  the  huge  tank  in  the  head  was  called,  was 
then  hoisted  in  if  possible ;  if  too  heavy  for  that, 
the  case  was  hoisted,  neck  end  up,  as  high  out 
of  water  as  possible,  after  which  a  hole  was 
opened  into  the  tank,  or  case,  and  the  oil  was 
bailed  out  with  a  bucket. 

In  cutting  up  the  heads  of  the  bone  whale, 
it  was  customary  to  cut  off  the  lips,  which  were 
full  of  oil,  and  then  take  pains  to  get  on  deck  the 
upper  jaw  with  the  bone  attached. 

When  the  more  valuable  parts  of  the  whale 
were  on  the  ship,  the  lean  carcass  was  allowed 
to  go  adrift,  —  food  for  the  sharks  that  always 
swarmed  around  a  whale  ship  that  was  "cutting 
in."  The  fact  is  that  the  sharks  sometimes 
got  so  much  of  the  blubber  that  the  crew  were 
kept  busy  to  save  any  quantity  worth  while, 
and  this  was  especially  true  when  three  or  more 
whales  were  brought  alongside  at  once,  as  some- 
times happened.  It  is  said  that  the  sharks  never 
attacked  the  men  who,  in  the  course  of  the  work, 
were  obliged  to  get  down  on  the  whale's  body. 
Nevertheless,  the  officers  on  the  cutting  stage 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        279 

usually  jabbed  their  spades  into  every  shark 
that  came  within  reach,  because  of  the  quantity 
of  blubber  taken.  Killing  or  wounding  a  shark 
always  attracted  the  near-by  sharks  to  it,  and  it 
was  devoured  by  them. 

The  blanket  pieces  of  blubber  were  cut  into 
chunks  as  large  as  a  man  could  handle  —  each 
say  as  long  as  the  blanket  was  wide,  and  a  foot 
or  so  wide.  These  were  laid  one  at  a  time  on 
benches  called  "horses"  and  slices  were  cut, 
something  like  the  slices  from  a  loaf  of  bread,  only 
the  slice  was  not  quite  severed  from  the  main 
chunk.  As  these  slices  were  connected  together, 
something  like  the  leaves  of  a  book,  they  were  called 
"books"  and  "bibles."  The  "books"  of  blubber 
were  pitched  into  the  try-pots,  which  were  huge  iron 
kettles,  two  or  three  in  number,  supported  in 
a  brick  furnace  placed  on  deck  abaft  the  fore- 
mast. An  iron  pan  full  of  water  was  placed 
under  the  furnace  as  a  precaution  against  fire. 
The  furnace  was  heated  by  burning  "scrap," 
the  fibrous  remainder  left  after  the  oil  was  ex- 
tracted from  the  blubber.  When  a  ship  returned 
home,  it  always  carried  enough  scrap  to  start 


280     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  fires  on  the  next  voyage.  As  the  oil  came 
from  the  blubber,  it  was  dipped  into  tanks  to 
cool  and  then  run  into  the  barrels  and  stowed 
in  the  hold. 

Steam  whalers  have  been  fitted  with  tanks 
heated  by  steam  to  try  out  the  oil.  In  the  Nor- 
wegian fishery  the  lean  parts  of  the  whale  are 
steamed  to  extract  the  oil,  and  the  refuse  is  made 
into  fertilizer. 

At  all  times,  cutting  in  a  whale  was  hard  work. 
It  was  work  that  had  to  be  done  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  too.  Trying  out  the  blubber  was  not 
so  hard,  though  on  a  ship  where  the  master  was 
overbearing  and  cruel  it  could  be  made  most 
disagreeable. 

Slocum,  previously  quoted,  says  of  the  work: 
"Cutting  in  and  trying  out  the  blubber  is  a  prosy 
job,  and  nasty  is  no  name  for  it.  All  hands 
strip  down  to  a  shirt  [he  was  in  a  warm-water 
whale  ship],  a  pair  of  overalls  rolled  up  to  the 
knees,  showing  a  pair  of  bare  shins  and  sockless 
feet  in  large  brogans,  and  in  we  go  —  grease 
from  head  to  foot  —  day  and  night  until  the 
whale  is  all  cut  safely  on  board.  It  gives  you 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        281 

a  funny  sensation  at  first  to  get  into  a  deckful 
of  blubber,  with  the  slimy  stuff  around  your 
exposed  cuticle,  and  oil  squashing  out  of  your 
shoes  at  every  step." 

As  a  rule,  the  men  found  some  pleasure  in  dip- 
ping their  hardtack  into  the  boiling  oil,  and  thus 
recooking  it  into  a  sea  dainty.  The  flesh  of  the 
young  whales  was  eaten,  especially  that  of  the 
humpback.  In  some  ships  a  barrel  of  flour 
was  brought  on  deck  and  the  cook  was  kept 
busy  making  doughnuts  while  the  boiling  was 
in  hand.  Sailors  from  ships  commanded  by  the 
strong  men  of  the  fishery  —  men  who  did  not  feel 
obliged  to  resort  to  cruelty  to  preserve  discipline 
—  always  spoke  of  boiling  out  the  oil  as  a  "squan- 
tum,"  which  is  the  Nantucket  word  for  a  picnic, 
and  they  were  known  to  call  the  boat  ride  which 
was  taken  when  a  struck  whale  towed  the  boat 
far  from  the  ship  a  "Nantucket  sleigh  ride." 

In  foul  weather  no  master  could  make  the  work 
of  cutting  in  anything  less  than  a  terrible  hard- 
ship, especially  if  the  ship  were  in  high  latitudes. 
And  the  boiling,  which  had  to  be  done  on  deck 
without  shelter,  was  of  course  also  a  hardship. 


282     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  bark  Java,  that  sailed  from  New  Bedford 
on  Octobers,  1872,  carried  a  donkey  engine  on 
deck  for  use  in  all  hoisting  work,  and  especially 
when  cutting  in.  The  modern  steam  whalers 
have  steam  winches  for  the  same  purpose. 

"Scrimshawing"  and  "gamming"  alone  remain 
to  be  considered  in  the  life  of  whaler  crews. 
"Gamming"  was  simply  visiting  from  ship  to 
ship  whenever  opportunity  offered.  A  boat  from 
each  of  two  ships  meeting  in  fair  weather  would 
be  lowered  to  carry  parties  to  and  fro.  It  was 
a  hard  ship  indeed  where  the  crew  was  not  al- 
lowed such  a  bit  of  recreation,  and  the  men 
who  thus  got  together  told  stories,  sang,  and 
danced  to  their  hearts'  content.  "Scrimshaw- 
ing" was  the  work  of  the  whaler  artists.  In 
all  but  the  worst  ships  the  men  were  allowed 
at  least  half  of  each  twenty-four-hour  day  to 
themselves.  On  some  ships  they  had  more  than 
half.  This  leisure  was  allowed,  of  course,  only 
when  there  was  no  whale  in  sight  or  alongside. 
The  men  could  not  sleep  all  of  their  watches 
below  and  there  were  no  circulating  or  other 
libraries  on  whale  ships.  To  pass  away  the 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        283 

heavy  hours,  the  men  made  many  kinds  of  fancy 
things  for  friends  at  home.  The  teeth  of  the 
sperm  whales  were  saved  and  carved  into  picture 
frames,  brackets,  and  many  other  devices.  Canes 
were  made  from  the  sperm  jawbone,  from  whale- 
bone, and  from  the  backbones  of  a  shark  strung 
on  an  iron  rod.  The  heads  of  these  canes  were 
generally  carved  from  teeth  of  the  sperm  whale. 
Strange  woods  were  secured  at  the  islands  where 
the  ship  called,  and  these  were  made  into  writing- 
tables,  work-stands,  work-boxes,  etc.,  and  they 
were  often  inlaid  with  tooth  ivory  and  shells 
and  woods  of  different  colors,  making  designs 
of  striking  beauty.  Strange  fibres  were  woven 
into  mats  and  rugs.  The  tools  used  by  the 
"scrimshanders,"  as  these  workers  were  called, 
were  usually  as  rude  as  those  used  by  the  aborigines, 
but,  like  the  aborigines,  the  sailors  had  no  end 
of  time,  and  a  look  into  the  parlors  of  the  old- 
time  whalers  shows  that  artists  were  developed 
among  the  men  who  killed  whales  for  a  living; 
the  product  of  their  skill  was  really  the  expres- 
sion of  the  love  they  had  for  the  work  they  were 
doing. 


284     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Said  a  writer  in  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine, 
November,  1840: 

"The  appearance  of  most  whalemen  when 
they  return  from  a  voyage  is  hardy  and  robust 
in  the  extreme;  the  substantial  food  and  bracing 
air,  afforded  by  the  circumstances  in  which  they 
are  placed,  as  well  as  their  violent  exercise,  serv- 
ing to  give  remarkable  vigor  and  animation 
to  their  constitution.  The  class  of  men  acting 
in  the  capacity  of  masters  cannot  be  regarded 
with  too  great  respect.  As  a  body  they  are  men 
who  have  combined  in  their  character  the  most 
valuable  traits;  cool,  determined,  and  brave, 
they  bear  the  weight  of  duties  and  encounter 
hazards  which  could  hardly  be  appreciated  upon 
the  land.  A  striking  difference  exists,  however, 
in  the  success  of  different  masters.  Some  appear 
always  endowed  with  good  luck,  while  others 
are  as  uniformly  unfortunate  in  their  expeditions. 
Doubtless  the  different  success  of  these  captains 
may  be  attributable  to  a  diversity  in  skill,  energy, 
knowledge,  and  prudence;  yet  it  is  often  owing 
to  circumstances  which  are  known  only  to  the 
Omniscient.  We  have  in  our  eye  one  of  these 


Sketches  Afloat  with  the  Whalers        285 

men  who,  although  yet  comparatively  young, 
is  distinguished  for  his  energy  and  his  uniform 
success.  Spare  in  his  form,  there  is  a  restless- 
ness in  his  eye  and  frame  which  seems  to  indicate 
that  his  soul  is  absorbed  in  his  pursuit  and  con- 
quered by  his  ambition  to  succeed.  ...  He 
has  worked  his  way  by  degrees  to  the  station 
of  principal  owner  in  a  large  ship,  starting  as 
he  did  a  common  sailor,  and  by  his  own  efforts 
has  already  earned  a  considerable  fortune.  .  .  . 
This  man  has  been  a  source  of  vast  profit  to  his 
employers,  and  while  we  are  writing  is  probably 
hurling  the  harpoon  into  a  whale  upon  waves 
so  high  and  beneath  clouds  so  dark  that  other 
mariners  would  deem  it  prudent  to  lay  to  for  pres- 
ervation from  the  winds." 

The  whalemen  were  the  frontiersmen  of  the 
sea.  Their  life  was  at  least  as  rude  and  as  dan- 
gerous as  that  of  the  home  makers  who  built 
log  huts  between  the  villages  of  hostile  savages 
in  the  West.  And  on  the  whale  ship  as  on  the 
frontier,  the  man  who  had  ambition  and  energy 
and  endurance  always  won  out  at  last. 


XI 

WORK  OF  THE   FIGHTING  WHALES 

SAID  Captain  Benjamin  Worth  in  writing 
his  autobiography  for  use  in  Macy's  His- 
tory of  Nantucket: 

"I  began  to  follow  the  sea  in  1783,  being  then 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and  continued  until  1824. 
During  this  period  of  forty-one  years  I  was  ship- 
master twenty-nine  years.  From  the  time  when 
I  commenced  going  to  sea  until  I  quitted  the 
business  I  was  at  home  only  seven  years.  At 
the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour  while  at  sea  I  have 
sailed  more  than  1,191,000  miles.  ...  I  have 
assisted  in  obtaining  20,000  barrels  of  oil.  .  .  . 
While  I  commanded  a  vessel  not  one  of  my  crew 
was  killed  or  even  had  a  limb  broken  by  a  whale." 

It  sometimes  happened  that  way.  Some  cap- 
tains loaded  their  ships,  voyage  after  voyage, 
with  never  a  mishap  of  any  kind,  but  in  the  usual 
course  the  whalemen  had  fierce  combats  with 
whales  during  every  cruise.  Among  the  many 
286 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  287 

stones  told  of  the  fighting  whales  none  is  more 
graphic  than  that  related  by  J.  T.  Brown  in 
Stray  Leaves  from  a  Whaler  s  Log  (as  printed 
in  the  Century  Magazine  for  February,  1893), 
about  the  death  of  a  Portuguese-American  boat 
steerer  known  as  Vera. 

"Vera  had  been  ordered  to  rig  up  one  of  the 
spare  boats,  and  devoted  most  of  his  night  to  strap- 
ping irons  and  getting  his  boat  into  shape  for 
lowering,  whistling  and  humming  snatches  of 
songs  to  himself  as  he  worked  industriously 
about  the  windlass  bitts.  Early  the  next  morn- 
ing a  lone  sperm  whale  was  descried  on  the 
horizon,  and  the  larboard  and  bow  boats  were 
again  ordered  down. 

"I  think  you'd  better  play  loose  boats  to-day, 
and  let  Mr.  Ashford  get  fast,'  said  the  captain 
to  Mr.  Braxton  [the  mate  in  charge  of  the  lar- 
board boat,  Mr.  Ashford,  the  third  mate,  having 
command  of  the  bow  boat]  as  the  boats  pulled 
away  from  the  ship. 

"'All  right,  sir,'  replied  the  mate,  and  away 
sped  the  boats  through  the  silent  water  under 
double  motive  power  of  sail  and  oar. 


288     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"  The  bow  boat,  according  to  orders,  got  in  first, 
but  the  whale  turned  flukes  and  sounded.  Both 
boats  lay  off  for  the  rising,  and  for  further  develop- 
ments. The  boat  stee'rer  of  the  bow  boat  had 
been  reported  ill  before  leaving  the  vessel,  and 
Vera  had  taken  his  place.  .  .  .  The  stroke 
oarsman  [of  the  larboard  boat  —  it  was  Brown, 
the  writer]  was  retained  at  his  own  oar,  and  at 
the  time  we  now  speak  of  was  in  excellent  position 
to  witness  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  harpoon- 
ing a  large  sperm  whale,  provided  Mr.  Ashford's 
boat  should  strike  it  first. 

"Vera  was  standing  in  the  bow  of  his  boat 
with  his  harpoon  well  in  hand,  his  head  swathed 
in  a  party-colored  handkerchief,  his  shirt  collar 
turned  well  back,  exposing  the  bronze  of  his  pow- 
erful neck,  and  his  nervous,  restless  eye  covering 
the  sea  about  him.  There  was  a  deathlike  still- 
ness about  the  scene,  broken  only  by  the  swashing 
of  the  restless  waves  as  they  beat  against  the 
sides  of  the  boats,  and  by  the  gurgling  noise  of 
the  tide-rips  as  they  played  mischievously  with 
the  steering  oars  which  trailed  astern. 

"Suddenly  there  seemed  to  be  a  commotion  in 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales          289 

the  bow  boat,  Vera  uttered  a  cry  in  Portuguese, 
and,  like  a  terrific  bolt  of  fire  from  the  clear  sky 
of  a  midsummer  day,  the  immense,  glistening 
lower  jaw,  armed  with  two  rows  of  polished 
teeth,  flashed  from  the  water,  and  the  gigantic 
whale  leaped  into  the  air,  carrying  with  it  the  head 
of  the  boat,  which  had  been  snapped  asunder, 
and  the  unfortunate  Vera,  whose  head  and  long 
arms  were  suspended  from  the  corner  of  the 
monster's  mouth,  the  body  and  legs  being  con- 
fined within  the  iron  vice.  The  sportive  hump- 
backs, those  clowns  of  the  cetaceous  order,  often- 
times bolt  clear  of  the  water;  but  it  is  seldom  the 
horizon  is  outlined  between  a  sperm  whale  and 
the  sea.  The  eyes  of  the  stroke  oarsman  of  the 
larboard  boat  were  directed  to  poor  Vera's  face, 
—  the  rapidly  changing  expression  of  that  face, 
which  afterwards  appeared  to  him  in  his  dreams 
in  the  forecastle  and  in  his  lonely  vigils  at  night. 
First  it  indicated  surprise  and  indignation;  next 
it  seemed  to  implore  help;  but  the  lips  spake 
not  and  not  a  muscle  moved.  A  calm  resigna- 
tion now  settled  upon  the  blanched  features, 
but  it  soon  gave  way  to  utter  despair  and  help- 


290     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

lessness,  which  were  rapidly  succeeded  by  facial 
contortions  indicative  of  the  most  intense  physical 
suffering.  The  whale  closed  its  mouth  upon  the 
victim's  waist,  and  disappeared  beneath  the 
boiling  waters,  carrying  with  it  the  wretched 
sufferer,  whose  life  blood  tinged  the  foam-crested 
waves. 

"Two  other  men,  the  bow  oarsman  and  the 
midship  oarsman,  were  never  seen  again.  No 
one  knows  whether  they  were  killed  outright  or 
drowned.  The  remaining  three,  all  more  or  less 
cut  or  bruised,  though  not  seriously,  were  fished 
up  from  the  floating  debris,  the  officer,  Mr.  Ash- 
ford,  being  hauled  up  by  the  hair  of  his  head 
in  a  fainting  condition.  Not  a  word  was  uttered 
except  by  Mr.  Braxton,  who  said  in  a  low,  soft 
tone  of  voice: 

"'Come,  boys,  let's  head  her  for  the  ship."5 
Some  of  the  stories  of  the  fighting  whales  in- 
dicate that  when  an  old  sperm  had  been  attacked 
and  had  escaped  serious  injury  he  was  always 
ready  thereafter  to  force  the  fighting  at  sight 
of  a  whale  boat.  For  example,  consider  the  story 
of  the  Barclay,  Captain  William  Barney,  Jr., 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  291 

of  Nantucket.  She  sailed  for  the  Pacific  on 
October  9,  1832.  The  story  of  her  adventures 
was  never  told  in  detail,  but  before  the  end  of 
the  month,  while  off  the  Azores,  she  sent  her 
boats  after  a  sperm  whale,  and  the  mate's  boat 
soon  struck  it  with  both  irons.  When  the  mate 
had  gone  forward  to  apply  the  lance,  however,  the 
whale  turned  and  killed  him,  after  which  it  made 
good  its  escape.  A  few  days  later  the  ship  Hector, 
Captain  John  O.  Morse,  of  New  Bedford,  met 
the  same  whale.  Captain  Morse  was  one  of  the 
fighting  skippers  and  lowered  with  his  mates 
for  the  attack,  only  to  find  that  the  whale  was 
coming  to  meet  them  all  at  least  halfway.  It 
selected  the  mate's  boat  for  its  first  rush.  The 
mate  by  a  quick  turn  escaped  its  first  attack 
and  managed  to  throw  a  harpoon  into  it  as  it 
passed;  but  the  next  instant  the  whale  struck 
the  boat,  no  one  knows  how,  and  made  basket 
work  of  its  bow. 

The  whale  then  turned,  apparently  to  attack 
the  boat  with  its  jaw,  and  it  would  have  gone 
hard  with  the  crippled  boat  but  for  the  presence 
of  the  captain,  who  pulled  in  and  attracted  the 


292     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

attention  of  the  monster.  As  the  whale  turned 
toward  the  captain's  boat  the  mate  shouted: 
"Look  out,  sir;  it's  a  fighting  whale!" 
"All  right;  I've  got  a  long  lance  and  want 
to  try  it,"  replied  the  captain.  But  before  he  had 
poised  his  boasted  lance  the  whale  grabbed  the 
boat  by  the  bow,  lifted  it  entirely  out  of  the  water 
and  shook  it  to  pieces,  scattering  the  crew  and 
implements  far  and  wide  over  the  water.  The 
crew  were  all  picked  up,  leaving  the  whale  busily 
searching  the  water  for  fragments  of  the  broken 
boat.  These,  as  he  found  them,  were  all  bitten 
and  crushed  into  matchwood,  save  only  a  keg 
that  had  been  in  the  boat.  That  danced  over 
the  waves,  escaping  the  rushes  of  the  whale  in 
a  way  that  seemed  to  exasperate  the  monster; 
at  any  rate,  it  soon  left  all  other  objects  to  pursue 
the  keg  with  steadily  growing  vigor. 

On  seeing,  after  reaching  the  ship,  the  whale's 
interest  in  the  keg,  the  mate  (his  name  was 
Norton,  but  his  first  name  was  not  recorded) 
offered  to  pick  a  crew  and  lower  once  more. 
He  was  allowed  to  do  so.  As  he  drew  near  to 
the  whale,  however,  it  lost  interest  in  the  keg 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  293 

and  turned  on  the  boat  with  such  vicious  dashes 
that  the  crew  literally  fled  for  life.  For  half  a 
mile  they  pulled  and  turned  and  backed  water 
with  all  their  might.  Several  times  they  escaped 
from  the  snapping  jaws  by  less  than  a  foot,  and 
they  were  rapidly  reaching  a  condition  where  they 
could  not  make  another  stroke  of  the  oar  when 
the  whale  suddenly  turned  over  (it  had  been 
fighting  as  sperm  whales  usually  do  with  its  belly 
up),  in  order  to  get  its  nose  out  of  water  and  inhale 
a  breath  of  fresh  air. 

As  it  happened,  the  boat  was  at  that  moment 
within  easy  reach,  and  Mr.  Norton,  who  had 
never  for  a  moment  lost  his  head,  was  able  to 
drive  his  lance  into  the  "life,"  killing  it  almost 
instantly.  On  cutting  in  the  blubber  the  har- 
poons from  the  Barclay  were  found  in  its  body, 
thus  proving  beyond  dispute  that  it  was  the  whale 
that  had  killed  the  Barclay's  mate. 

The  stories  of  the  ability  of  the  fighting  whales 
to  endure  punishment  are  almost  beyond  belief. 
The  bark  Emerald,  Captain  Abraham  Pierce, 
that  sailed  from  New  Bedford  on  July  15,  1857, 
fell  in  with  a  fighting  whale  in  the  North  Pacific 


294     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

that  kept  all  her  boats  busy  for  nine  hours.  Dur- 
ing that  time  it  was  struck  by  five  harpoons,  and 
seven  bombs  were  exploded  in  it ;  yet  it  destroyed 
three  boats,  meantime,  and  then,  when  it  was 
at  last  killed,  it  sank  in  forty  fathoms  of  water 
and  the  crew  got  nothing  for  their  labor. 

More  extraordinary  still  was  the  experience 
of  Captain  Malloy,  of  the  Osceola  3d,  of  New 
Bedford.  The  waist  boat  and  the  captain's 
boat  were  lowered  for  a  lone  bull.  Both  struck 
the  whale,  which  in  turn  stove  in  both  of  the  boats. 
A  sweep  of  its  tail  cut  the  bottom  out  of  the 
captain's  boat;  the  other  boat  was  merely  crushed. 
The  waist  boat,  in  the  meantime,  had  fired  a 
bomb  into  the  whale,  but  without  any  effect 
whatever,  so  far  as  the  men  could  see. 

As  all  hands  had  been  thrown  into  the  water 
by  the  attack  of  the  whale,  the  ship  had  to  come 
and  pick  them  up.  When  this  had  been  done 
Captain  Malloy  headed  the  ship  toward  the  whale 
and  stood,  gun  in  hand,  ready  to  fire  a  bomb 
as  soon  as  a  convenient  range  should  be  reached. 
It  was  supposed  that  the  whale  would  be  so  busy 
crushing  the  fragments  of  the  broken  boats  that 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  295 

it  would  not  heed  the  approach  of  the  ship.  Never- 
theless, as  soon  as  he  saw  the  ship  coming  (it 
was  when  she  was  about  three  hundred  feet  away) 
the  whale  turned  on  its  side  and  made  for  the 
ship,  with  its  mouth  open,  as  is  the  habit  of  the 
species  in  making  an  attack.  The  whale  struck 
the  vessel  on  the  bluff  of  the  bow,  knocking  off 
the  cutwater.  The  ship  trembled  from  stem 
to  stern,  and  so  great  was  the  concussion  that 
many  articles  on  board,  such  as  crockery  and 
glassware,  were  dislodged  from  the  places  where 
they  were  usually  kept.  As  the  whale  crossed 
the  bow  two  hand  lances  and  a  bomb  were  thrown 
into  it.  The  vessel  was  headed  for  the  whale 
the  second  time,  but  it  kept  off.  All  this  time 
the  two  tow  lines  and  a  portion  of  the  stove  boat 
were  fastened  to  the  whale,  the  lines  being  en- 
tangled about  its  body.  Captain  Malloy  with 
a  picked  crew  finally  approached  the  whale  and 
killed  it  after  a  desperate  battle  of  twelve  hours. 
(The  Whale  Fishery.} 

Starbuck  says  that  thirty-one  bombs  were 
fired  into  this  whale  before  it  was  killed.  It 
yielded  115  barrels  of  oil. 


296     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Davis,  in  his  Nimrod  of  the  Sea,  tells  about 
the  work  of  another  fighting  whale  which  made 
such  a  terrific  onslaught  upon  the  boats  that  the 
crew  of  the  ship  were  entirely  demoralized,  and 
the  captain  felt  obliged  to  make  port  in  order  to 
give  the  men  a  chance  to  run  away,  —  a  privilege 
of  which  they  availed  themselves  promptly. 

Right  whales  also  fight  back,  though  but  rarely. 
A  Long  Island  captain,  whose  name  is  not  given, 
relates  a  story  of  a  fight  with  one  of  these  whales 
(it  can  be  found  in  Starbuck's  history)  that  seems 
well  worth  quoting  verbatim: 

"My  second  mate  had  fastened  to  a  large  whale 
that  seemed  disposed  to  be  ugly;  so  I  pulled  up 
and  fastened  to  her  also.  I  went  into  the  bow 
and  darted  my  lance,  but  the  whale  rolled  so  that 
I  missed  the  life  and  struck  into  the  shoulder 
blade.  It  pierced  so  deep  into  the  bone  (per- 
haps through  it)  that  I  could  not  draw  it  out;  the 
whole  body  of  the  whale  shivered  and  squirmed  as 
if  in  great  pain.  Then  turning  a  little,  she  cut 
her  flukes,  taking  the  boat  amidships.  The  broad- 
side was  stove  in,  and  the  boat  rolled  over,  the 
crew  having  jumped  into  the  sea.  I  cut  the  line 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  297 

in  the  chocks  at  the  same  moment  to  save  being 
run  under  with  a  kink.  The  crew  were  soon 
safely  housed  on  the  bottom  of  the  upturned 
boat,  or  swimming  and  clinging  to  the  keel.  The 
second  mate  wanted  to  cut  his  line  and  pick  us 
up,  but  I  foolishly  told  him  to  hold  on  and  kill 
the  whale.  But  I  bragged  too  soon.  Just  then 
the  whale  came  on  the  full  breach,  and  striking 
the  boat  he  went  right  through  it,  knocking  men 
and  wreck  high  in  the  air.  Next  its  great  bulk 
fell  over  sideways,  right  in  our  midst,  and  spite- 
fully cut  the  corners  of  her  flukes  right  and  left. 
In  the  surge  and  confusion  two  poor  fellows 
went  down ;  we  saw  no  sign  of  them  afterward, 
and  the  water  was  so  dark  —  stained  with  blood 
—  that  we  could  not  see  into  it. 

"As  the  whale  came  feeling  around  with  her 
nose  she  passed  close  by  me.  I  was  afraid  of 
the  flukes  and  got  hold  of  the  warp  or  something 
and  towed  a  little  way  until  she  slacked  speed 
a  little.  Then  I  dove  under,  so  as  to  clear  the 
flukes,  and  came  up  astern  of  them.  I  was  in 
good  time,  for  having  felt  the  boat  she  turned 
over  and  threshed  it  with  a  number  of  blows 


298     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

in  quick  succession,  pounding  the  wreck  into 
splinters.  She  must  have  caught  sight  of  me, 
for  she  came  up  on  a  half  breach  and  dropped 
her  head  on  me,  and  drove  me,  half  stunned, 
deep  into  the  water.  Again  I  came  up  near 
the  small,  and  again  dove  under  the  flukes.  From 
this  time  she  seemed  to  keep  me  in  sight.  Again 
and  again  she  would  run  her  head  in  the  air  and 
fall  on  my  back,  bruising  and  half  drowning  me 
as  I  was  driven  down  in  the  water. 

"Sometimes  I  caught  hold  of  the  line  or  some- 
thing attached  to  the  mad  brute,  and  would  hold 
until  a  sweep  of  the  flukes  would  take  my  legs 
and  break  my  hold.  The  second  mate's  boat  had 
cut  long  ago,  and  watched  her  chance  to  pick 
up  the  surviving  crew,  but  had  not  been  able  to 
reach  me;  for  when  the  whale's  eye  caught  the 
boat  she  would  dash  for  it  so  wickedly  that  the 
whole  crew  became  demoralized.  .  .  .  To  hus- 
band my  strength  I  gave  over  swimming,  and, 
treading  water,  I  faced  the  danger  and  several 
times  by  sinking  avoiding  the  blow  from  her  head. 
As  a  desperate  resource,  I  strove  with  the  point 
of  my  sheath  knife  to  prick  her  nose.  .  .  .  Thus 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  299 

for  three-quarters  of  an  hour  that  whale  and 
I  were  fighting;  the  act  of  breathing  became 
labored  and  painful;  my  head  and  shoulders  were 
sore  from  bruises  and  my  legs  had  been  pounded 
by  her  flukes ;  but  it  was  not  until  I  found  myself 
swimming  with  my  arms  alone,  with  my  legs 
hanging  paralyzed,  that  I  felt  actually  scared. 
Then  it  looked  as  if  I  couldn't  hold  out  much 
longer.  I  had  seen  the  ship  close  beside  me  and 
the  second  mate's  boat  trying  to  get  in  to  me  and 
throwing  me  lines;  but  I  had  failed  to  reach 
them.  Now  these  things  seemed  very  far  ofF; 
that  was  the  last  I  remembered  until  I  came  to 
aboard  ship. 

"I  was  afterward  told  that  the  first  mate,  in 
answer  to  a  signal  from  the  ship,  had  come  up; 
and  seeing  me  feebly  paddling  with  my  hands 
and  not  answering  his  hail  he  put  straight  into  the 
fight.  The  whale  saw  them  coming  and  made  for 
them.  The  men  sprang  to  their  oars,  and  the 
mate  had  time  to  seize  my  collar  while  they 
pulled  their  best  to  escape  the  furious  whale. 

"The  mate  had  true  pluck.  Leaving  me  to 
the  care  of  the  crew  on  board,  he  put  back  for 


300     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  whale.  As  he  afterward  said,  'she  was  too 
dangerous  a  cuss  to  run  at  large  in  that  pasture 
field.'  Watching  a  chance  he  got  a  set  on  her 
over  the  shoulder  blade  and  sent  the  red  flag  into 
the  air.  This  tamed  her;  she  lagged  around  for 
a  time  and  settled  away  dead.  The  mate  then 
came  on  board  and  reported  sunk  whale.  It  was 
several  weeks  before  I  was  able  to  take  my  place 
in  the  head  of  my  boat  again." 

Still  more  remarkable  than  these  stories  are 
those  of  the  whales  that  left  off  fighting  the  small 
boats  to  make  a  deliberate  attack  upon  the  ship 
from  which  they  had  come.  Many  ships  have 
collided  with  whales  and  many  whales  have 
struck  ships  with  destructive  effect  through  pure 
accident,  because  unable  to  see  what  is  directly 
ahead  of  them;  but  the  interest  in  this  chapter  is 
confined  to  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  monsters. 

Of  the  stories  of  the  ships  that  have  been 
struck  by  whales  making  a  deliberate  attack,  the 
most  noted  were  those  of  the  loss  of  the  Ann 
Alexander,  already  told,  and  of  the  sinking  of  the 
Essex,  of  Nantucket. 

The  bark  Katblene,  Captain  Thomas  H.  Jen- 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  301 

kins,  of  New  Bedford,  was  sunk  by  a  whale  a 
little  north  of  the  equator  in  the  Atlantic,  on 
March  7,  1902,  and  the  newspapers  of  the  day 
wrote  an  account  of  the  disaster  in  which  it  was 
said  that  the  attack  by  the  whale  was  premedi- 
tated. The  facts,  as  related  by  Captain  Jenkins 
in  a  book  printed  in  New  Bedford  during  the 
same  year,  show  that  when  the  whale  had  arrived 
near  the  ship  it  plunged  down  and  tried  to  go 
under  the  ship,  but  he  was  so  near  and  was 
coming  so  fast  he  did  not  have  room  enough  to 
get  clear  of  her.  Another  ship,  the  Pocahontas, 
of  Holmes  Hole,  was  attacked  by  a  whale  that 
left  off  fighting  her  boats  and  made  a  dash  at  her. 
It  struck  a  glancing  blow  on  the  bow  that  opened 
several  of  her  plank  ends.  She  put  into  Rio 
Janeiro,  leaking  at  the  rate  of  250  strokes  of  the 
pump  per  hour. 

In  addition  to  what  has  already  been  said  about 
the  loss  of  the  Ann  Alexander,  it  may  be  worth 
telling  that  five  months  after  the  disaster  the 
Rebecca  Sims,  of  New  Bedford,  killed  the  whale 
that  had  sunk  the  unfortunate  ship,  as  was  proved 
by  finding  the  irons  which  the  men  of  the  Ann 


302     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Alexander  had  thrown  into  it,  together  with  sev- 
eral pieces  of  timber  that  had  been  embedded 
in  its  head  when  it  broke  in  the  side  of  the  ship. 
The  injuries  thus  sustained  had  tamed  its  spirit, 
and  it  made  no  fight  when  struck  by  the  Sims. 

The  Essex  sailed  from  Nantucket  on  August 
12,  1819,  under  the  command  of  Captain  George 
Pollard,  Jr.,  who,  by  the  way,  was  already  some- 
what distinguished  through  having  been  one  of 
the  crew  of  Fulton's  Clermont  in  her  first  voyage 
up  the  Hudson.  The  Essex  followed  the  usual 
course  around  the  Horn,  and  when,  on  November 
20,  she  was  in  latitude  o°  40'  south  and  longitude 
119°  west,  whales  were  raised.  Three  boats  were 
lowered.  The  mate's  boat  got  an  iron  into  a 
whale,  but  at  the  next  instant  the  animal  struck 
the  boat  with  its  tail,  and  opened  a  hole  so  large 
that  the  mate  was  obliged  to  cut  the  warp  im- 
mediately. By  stuffing  their  clothes  into  the  hole 
the  crew  of  the  boat  managed  to  keep  it  afloat 
while  they  pulled  back  to  the  ship  for  repairs. 

On  reaching  the  ship  the  mate  saw  that  the 
captain  and  the  second  mate  were  fast  to  a  whale, 
and  he  headed  the  ship  down  toward  them. 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  303 

Then,  as  he  was  about  to  begin  the  work  of  re- 
pairing his  own  boat,  the  mate  saw  a  huge  sperm 
whale  come  to  the  surface  of  the  water  about 
twenty  rods  away.  It  lay  for  a  moment  ap- 
parently having  a  look  at  the  ship,  and  then  it 
settled  just  beneath  the  surface,  after  the  manner 
of  whales  when  making  an  attack,  and  headed  for 
the  ship.  The  mate  ordered  the  wheel  hard  up, 
but  the  ship  was  moving  so  slowly  that  she  was 
unable  to  dodge,  and  the  whale  struck  her  on  the 
bow,  giving  her  "such  an  appalling  and  tremen- 
dous jar  as  nearly  threw  us  all  on  our  faces.  The 
ship  brought  up  as  suddenly  and  violently  as  if 
she  had  struck  a  rock,"  so  said  the  mate.  The 
whale  then  passed  under  the  ship,  scraping  her 
keel  as  he  passed,  and  came  to  the  surface  about 
a  hundred  yards  away,  where  he  lay  thrashing 
the  water  with  his  tail  and  "snapping  his  jaws  as 
if  in  a  great  fury." 

Meantime  the  ship  began  to  sink,  and  the  mate 
(Mr.  Owen  Chase,  who  wrote  an  account  of  the 
disaster  that  was  printed  in  book  form)  at  once 
started  the  pumps  and  set  a  signal  to  recall  the 
boats.  A  little  later,  as  he  was  getting  some 


304     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

provisions  ready  to  put  in  the  boats,  one  of  the 
crew  shouted : 

"Here  he  is;  he  is  making  for  us  again !" 
"I  turned  arqund  and  saw  him  about  a  hun- 
dred rods  directly  ahead  of  us,"  wrote  Mr.  Chase, 
"coming  down  with  apparently  twice  his  ordinary 
speed,  and  to  me  it  appeared  with  tenfold  fury 
and  vengeance  in  his  aspect.  The  surf  flew  in  all 
directions  and  his  course  toward  us  was  marked 
by  a  white  foam  of  a  rod  in  width,  which  he 
made  with  .a  continual  violent  thrashing  of  his 
tail.  His  head  was  about  half  out  of  water,  and 
in  that  way  he  came  upon  and  again  struck  the 
ship.  I  called  out  to  the  helmsman,  'Hard  up!' 
but  she  had  not  fallen  off  more  than  a  point 
when  we  took  the  second  shock.  I  should  judge 
the  speed  of  the  ship  to  have  been  at  this  time 
about  three  knots  and  that  of  the  whale  about 
six.  He  struck  her  to  windward,  directly  under 
the  cathead,  and  completely  stove  in  her  bows. 
He  passed  under  the  ship  again,  went  off  to  lee- 
ward, and  we  saw  no  more  of  him." 

The   spare   boat  was   now   hurriedly   launched 
overboard  and  the  ship's  compasses  were  put  into 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  305 

it.  When  the  other  boats  that  had  been  in  pur- 
suit of  the  whales  returned  to  the  ship,  the  cap- 
tain cut  away  her  masts.  Thus  relieved,  she  sank 
more  slowly,  and  the  crew  were  able  to  get  from 
her  600  pounds  of  bread,  200  gallons  of  water, 
a  musket,  a  small  canister  of  powder,  two  files, 
two  rasps,  two  pounds  of  boat  nails,  and  some 
meat.  Each  boat  was  fitted  with  a  jib  and  two 
spritsails,  and  while  lying  beside  the  ship,  which 
remained  for  some  time  afloat  with  her  deck 
awash,  the  sides  of  the  three  boats  were  built  up 
with  spare  plank  so  that  they  would  be  less 
likely  to  ship  water  in  a  gale.  Finally  a  consulta- 
tion was  held.  The  nearest  land  was  the  Mar- 
quesas Islands,  and  next  to  them  the  Society 
Islands.  But  the  crew  feared  to  head  for  those 
islands  because  in  those  days  the  natives  were 
savages  who  had  not  been  well  treated  by  such 
ships  as  had  visited  them.  Accordingly  it  was 
determined,  on  November  22,  to  steer  for  the 
coast  of  South  America. 

One  of  the  boats  (that  commanded  by  the 
mate)  was  old  and  patched,  having  been  knocked 
partly  to  pieces  several  times  in  fights  with  whales. 


306     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

To  it  only  six  men  were  assigned.  The  other  two 
carried  seven  men  each.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
daily  allowance  of  each  man  should  be  one  hard 
biscuit  and  a  half  pint  of  water.  It  was  while 
thinking  of  the  condition  of  himself  and  shipmates 
as  they  thus  began  their  passage  toward  the  main- 
land that  Mr.  Chase  wrote : 

"The  dark  ocean  and  swelling  waters  were 
nothing;  the  fears  of  being  swallowed  up  by  some 
dreadful  tempest,  or  dashed  upon  hidden  rocks, 
with  all  the  other  ordinary  subjects  of  fearful 
contemplation,  seemed  scarcely  entitled  to  a 
moment's  thought;  the  dismal-looking  wreck 
and  the  horrid  aspect  and  revenge  of  the  whale 
wholly  engrossed  my  reflections  until  day  again 
made  its  appearance." 

On  December  16  the  allowance  of  food  and 
water  was  reduced  one-half.  To  quench  their 
thirst  the  men  then  began  going  overboard  to 
soak  in  moisture,  as  they  supposed,  and  in  doing 
this  they  discovered  a  number  of  barnacles  on 
the  bottoms  of  the  boats.  These  they  cleaned  off 
and  devoured.  Four  days  later  land  was  seen, — 
Ducie's  Island. 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  307 

On  landing  a  cave  was  discovered  near  the 
beach,  and  it  was  immediately  examined.  Lying 
on  the  floor  the  searchers  found  eight  human 
skeletons,  and  a  board  in  which  had  been  cut 
with  a  sailor's  knife  the  words,  "Ship  Elizibetb  of 
London." 

As  the  island  afforded  water,  with  a  little 
peppergrass,  and  as  it  was  possible  to  catch  fish 
on  the  reef,  three  of  the  castaways  determined  to 
remain  in  spite  of  the  manifest  fate  that  had 
overtaken  the  men  from  the  Elizabeth.  The 
others  renewed  their  supply  of  water  and  sailed 
away  once  more. 

In  a  storm  on  January  12,  1820,  the  mate's 
boat  was  separated  from  the  other  two.  Two 
days  later,  when  he  had  been  away  from  the 
island  about  two  weeks,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  in  his 
diary  (as  published;  it  was,  of  course,  a  much- 
edited  diary,  for  no  whaleman  was  ever  guilty  of 
using  such  language) : 

"We  were  as  yet  just  able  to  move  about  in 
our  boat  and  slowly  perform  the  necessary  labors 
appertaining  to  her;  but  we  were  fast  wasting 
away  with  the  relaxing  effects  of  the  water,  and 


308     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

we  daily  almost  perished  under  the  torrid  rays  of 
a  meridian  sun;  to  escape  which  we  would  lie 
down  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  cover  ourselves 
with  the  sails,  and  abandon  her  to  the  mercy  of 
the  waves.  Upon  attempting  to  rise  again  the 
blood  would  rush  into  the  head  and  an  intoxicat- 
ing blindness  come  over  us." 

Six  days  later  still,  he  said:  "We  were  hardly 
able  to  crawl  about  the  boat.  Our  ounce  and  a 
half  of  bread,  which  was  to  serve  us  all  day,  was 
in  some  cases  greedily  devoured,  as  if  life  was 
to  continue  but  another  moment;  and  at  other 
times  it  was  hoarded  up  and  eaten  crumb  by 
crumb,  at  regular  intervals  during  the  day,  as  if 
it  was  to  last  forever." 

To  add  to  their  misery,  the  men  usually  dreamed 
of  eating  at  tables  loaded  with  food. 

On  February  8  one  of  the  men,  Isaac  Cole,  sud- 
denly leaped  to  his  feet,  hoisted  the  jib,  shouted 
that  he  would  not  give  up,  and  that  he  would  live 
as  long  as  any  of  them.  Then  he  fell  down  and 
died.  Chase  told  the  survivors  that  they  ought 
to  use  the  body  for  food. 

"We  separated  his  limbs  from  his    body    and 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  309 

cut  all  the  flesh  from  the  bones;  after  which  we 
opened  the  body,  took  out  the  heart,  and  then 
closed  it  up  again,  sewed  it  up  as  decently  as  we 
could,  and  committed  it  to  the  sea.  We  now 
first  commenced  to  satisfy  the  immediate  cravings 
of  nature  from  the  heart;  after  which  we  hung 
up  the  remainder,  cut  in  thin  strips,  about  the 
boat  to  dry  in  the  sun ;  we  made  a  fire  and  roasted 
some  of  it  to  serve  us  during  the  next  day." 

They  lived  on  the  flesh  of  the  dead  man  until 
the  morning  of  the  i8th,  when  at  7  o'clock  one  of 
the  men  shouted,  "Sail  ho  !"  It  was  no  delusion; 
the  brig  Indian,  of  London,  was  at  hand.  She 
picked  them  up  and  carried  them  to  Valparaiso. 
They  had  reached  latitude  33°  45'  and  longitude 
81°  3'.  The  Indian  arrived  at  Valparaiso  on 
February  25. 

The  captain's  boat  and  that  of  the  second 
mate  were  together  until  January  28.  Their  pro- 
visions were  exhausted  and  three  men  died  of 
starvation.  The  flesh  of  these  men  was  divided 
between  the  two  boats  and  eaten.  On  February  I 
the  men  in  the  captain's  boat,  being  once  more 
without  food,  drew  lots  to  see  who  should  die 


310     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  who  should  be  the  executioner.  Owen  Coffin 
drew  the  death  lot  and  Charles  Ramsdale  the 
other.  When  the  lot  had  fallen,  the  captain 
begged  Ramsdale  to  kill  him  instead  of  Coffin, 
who  was  Pollard's  cousin;  but  Coffin  refused  to 
permit  this  to  be  done.  Coffin's  flesh  was  eaten. 
On  February  n  Barzilla  Ray  died  of  exhaustion, 
leaving  Pollard  and  Ramsdale  alone  in  the  boat. 
They  were  found  in  a  delirium  by  the  whale  ship 
Dauphin,  which  arrived  with  them  at  Valparaiso 
on  March  17.  The  boat  of  the  second  mate  was 
never  heard  from.  The  men  left  on  Ducie's 
Island  endured  terrible  suffering,  but  were  rescued 
by  a  British  vessel  before  life  was  gone. 

"The  story  of  the  Essex's  loss  and  of  the  dire 
necessity  to  which  the  survivors  were  reduced, 
preceded  Captain  Pollard  to  Nantucket.  Eye- 
witnesses of  the  scene  on  his  return  say  that  the 
cliffs  and  wharves  were  lined  with  spectators,  and 
that  he  walked  to  his  home  through  an  awe- 
struck, silent  crowd."  (Gustav  Kobbe,  in  Cen- 
tury Magazine.} 

Pollard  sailed  in  command  of  the  ship  Two 
Brothers  in  1821,  but  she  was  lost  on  a  coral 


Work  of  the  Fighting  Whales  311 

reef  in  the  Pacific,  and  the  captain,  although  all 
hands  were  saved,  gave  up  the  sea.  He  was  for 
many  years  on  the  police  force  at  Nantucket,  and 
died  there  in  1870,  aged  eighty-one  years.  Owen 
Chase  became  a  successful  whaler  captain. 


XII 
WHALING  AS  A  BUSINESS  ENTERPRISE 

THE  counting-house  hero  of  the  American 
whale  fishery  was  a  man  who  deliberate- 
ly took  his  life  in  his  hand  in  the  hope 
of  making  a  large  profit,  and  succeeded.     His  name 
was  Captain  W.  T.  Walker,  of  New  Bedford. 

In  1847  Captain  William  C.  Brownell,  of  New 
Bedford,  bought  an  old  ship  named  the  Envoy, 
intending  to  break  her  up  for  the  metal  in  her 
hull.  In  her  career  the  Envoy  had  always  been  a 
lucky  ship.  She  was  built  in  the  booming  year 
of  1833  for  Amherst  Everett,  of  Providence,  and 
she  was  registered  at  392  tons,  the  size  of  the 
ordinary  Pacific  whaler  of  her  day.  She  sailed 
from  home  December  26,  in  the  year  she  was 
built,  under  Captain  J.  C.  Clark,  and  she  re- 
turned four  years  later  —  January  I,  1838 — • 
with  2100  barrels  of  sperm  oil,  worth  $57,887. 
And  that  is  to  say,  her  first  cruise  paid  for  the 
312 


Whaling  as  a   Business   Enterprise        313 

cost  of  ship  and  outfit,  and  left  a  large  sum  as 
clean  profit  in  addition.  In  her  last  cruise,  which 
ended  in  February,  1847,  she  brought  home  a 
cargo  worth  $56,000,  and  in  the  meantime  she 
had  done  so  well  that  she  had  cleared  well  up 
toward  $200,000  for  her  fortunate  owner,  or  say 
$12,000  a  year  during  the  fourteen  years,  on  an 
original  investment  of  perhaps  $35,000  all  told. 

But  now  the  ship  was  far  gone,  worn  out  in 
"bucking"  the  gales  off  Cape  Horn,  and  the  ice 
beyond  Bering's  Strait.  Captain  Everett  was  rich 
enough  to  retire  from  whaling  and  the  ship  was 
sold,  as  said,  to  the  owner  of  a  "nautical  bone 
yard." 

When  the  Envoy  reached  New  Bedford,  how- 
ever, Captain  W.  T.  Walker  took  a  look  at  her. 
Captain  Walker  wanted  a  ship.  During  a  pre- 
vious voyage  he  had  purchased  on  speculation,  at 
Wytootacke,  a  thousand  barrels  of  oil  that  had 
been  saved  from  a  wreck,  and  he  wanted  a  ship, 
first  of  all,  to  carry  that  oil  to  market.  In  addition 
to  the  freighting  venture,  however,  he  also  wished 
to  try  whaling  again.  The  Envoy  was  certainly 
a  hard-looking  specimen  of  a  ship,  but  Captain 


314     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Walker  thought  she  would  last  for  one  more 
cruise.  He  was  willing  to  "take  a  chance,"  at 
any  rate.  And  when  he  offered  to  take  her,  it 
was  not  in  the  nature  of  any  owner  to  refuse  to  fit 
her  out. 

All  told,  including  the  ship,  the  expense  of  a 
few  repairs,  and  the  outfit  of  food  and  whaling 
apparatus,  the  Envoy  cost  just  $8000,  when  ready 
for  sea.  Application  was  then  made  for  "a  good 
fat  lump  of  insurance,  to  cover  the  risk  on  the 
way,"  but  the  underwriters  without  exception 
asked  to  be  excused.  This  refusal  of  the  insur- 
ance companies  to  risk  a  dollar  at  any  premium 
shows  to  a  seafaring  man  better  than  anything 
else  the  condition  of  the  old  hulk,  and  it  was  the 
entire  willingness  of  Captain  Walker  to  sail  on  a 
ship  as  rotten  as  she  was  that  makes  him  the 
chief  counting-house  hero  of  the  fishery. 

There  is,  of  course,  another  point  of  view.  He 
was  risking  not  only  his  own  life  but  the  lives  of 
his  crew,  and  it  is  certain  that  not  one  of  the 
forecastle  men  had  any  idea  of  the  risk  he  was 
taking  when  he  signed  for  the  voyage.  To  ship 
a  crew  in  a  rotten  ship  was  never  considered 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       315 

reprehensible  among  shipowners,  and  that  is  a 
fact  of  some  importance,  perhaps,  in  any  account 
of  any  branch  of  sea  commerce. 

The  Envoy  sailed  from  New  Bedford  on  July  14, 
1848.  Going  to  Wytootacke,  she  carried  Cap- 
tain Walker's  oil  to  Manila,  whence  it  was  shipped 
to  London,  and  sold  at  a  profit  of  $9000.  Then 
the  Envoy  went  cruising,  and  in  fifty-five  days 
took  2800  barrels  of  whale  oil  besides  bone.  Re- 
turning to  Manila,  Captain  Walker  shipped  1800 
barrels  of  the  oil  and  40,000  pounds  of  the  bone 
to  London,  where  it  was  sold  at  a  net  profit  of 
$37>5°°-  Meantime  on  going  for  another  cruise 
Walker  had  the  extraordinary  luck  to  secure  2500 
barrels  of  whale  oil  and  35,000  pounds  of  bone. 

As  the  old  ship  was  now  loaded  in  every  nook 
and  hollow,  Captain  Walker  headed  for  San 
Francisco,  where  he  arrived  in  1851.  Here  oil 
and  bone  were  sold  to  the  value  of  $73,450; 
bone  that  netted  $12,500  was  shipped  to  New 
Bedford,  and  then,  to  end  all,  he  sold  the  ship  for 
$6000.  On  an  investment  of  $8000  the  Envoy 
made  $138,450. 

The  records  show  that  as  early  as   1616  —  in 


316     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  days  of  Champlain  and  Hudson  —  whale  oil 
was  exported  from  New  England.  Most  of  this 
oil  was  probably  obtained  from  whales  that 
floated  dead  to  the  beach,  for  the  early  court 
records  are  full  of  troubles  arising  from  opposing 
claimants  to  such  whales.  Nevertheless  the  peo- 
ple of  every  settlement  alongshore  were  prepared 
to  go  afloat  in  pursuit  of  whales  seen  from  the 
beach,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  people 
of  Salem,  for  going  as  far  as  Cape  Cod  in  search 
of  whales,  were  counted  extraordinarily  venture- 
some. Of  the  profits  made  on  Massachusetts 
Bay  and  Long  Island  by  the  alongshore  whalers 
in  the  early  days,  no  definite  record  exists.  The 
records  of  Nantucket  are  more  satisfactory. 
Thus,  in  1715  six  sloops  that  averaged  38  tons  in 
size  secured  600  barrels  of  oil  and  11,000  pounds 
of  bone,  the  value  of  the  whole  being  £1100.  At 
first  thought  this  seems  a  small  take  for  a  year's 
work  of  six  sloops,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
these  sloops  were  not  constantly  at  sea;  the 
owners,  who  were  also  the  crews,  were,  as  already 
noted,  farmers  who  worked  their  land  besides 
going  whaling.  They,  at  least,  produced  their 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise        317 

own  food  between  cruises.  Moreover,  in  that  era 
of  low  wages  £183  per  vessel  seemed  vastly  larger 
than  such  a  sum  seems  now.  In  1730  twenty-five 
vessels  secured  3700  barrels  of  oil,  and  in  1745 
the  island  shipped  10,000  barrels  of  oil  to  Boston 
alone.  Small  as  the  average  income  of  a  ship  may 
seem,  the  business  was  growing.  Further  than 
that,  the  vessels  did  not  fare  all  alike.  Some 
came  home  "clean,"  —  without  a  barrel  of  oil,  — 
while  others  saved  large  quantities  in  short 
periods.  Naturally,  the  good  luck  of  the  few 
kept  the  many  trying. 

Two  interesting  business  facts  are  related  of 
the  fishery  in  those  early  days.  In  1706  one 
Thomas  Houghton  secured  from  the  New  York 
authorities  a  monopoly  of  the  lean  parts  of  whales, 
which,  in  the  usual  course  of  the  fishery,  were  left 
at  the  water's  edge  to  decay.  He  set  forth  in  his 
petition  to  the  authorities  that  he  intended  to 
carry  the  meat  and  bones  to  Boston,  where  he 
was  to  treat  the  material  by  a  secret  process. 
What  the  product  was  to  be  is  not  stated,  but  it 
appears  by  inference  that  he  was  to  make  salt- 
petre by  burying  the  material  in  the  soil,  where, 


318     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

as  is  now  known,  the  nitrate  of  potash  would  be 
formed  by  bacterial  processes. 

In  1750  an  Englishman,  named  Benjamin 
Crabb,  obtained  from  the  Massachusetts  authori- 
ties a  monopoly  for  making  sperm  candles  during 
a  period  of  fourteen  years.  The  Crabb  monopoly 
failed.  No  capitalistic  monopoly  of  the  early 
days  ever  succeeded,  though  backed  by  legal 
enactment,  as  have  the  monopolies  of  modern 
days  which  have,  in  some  cases,  been  maintained 
contrary  to  statute. 

The  extent  of  the  whaling  business  in  the  years 
before  the  Revolution  has  been  set  forth  in  figures. 
Large  as  was  the  business  then  done  by  Nantucket, 
the  extent  of  the  fishery  at  other  ports  was  of 
small  moment.  After  the  American  seamen,  by 
good  fighting  afloat  during  the  War  of  1812,  had 
secured  the  right  to  cross  all  seas  unmolested 
by  foreigners,  the  business  spread  to  other  ports 
rapidly.  Thus  in  1815  the  total  number  of 
whalers  that  went  to  sea  after  peace  was  restored 
was:  from  Nantucket,  50;  from  New  Bedford, 
10;  from  Sag  Harbor,  Long  Island,  3;  from 
Fairhaven,  Massachusetts,  2;  from  Hudson,  New 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       319 

York,  2,  and  from  Westport,  Massachusetts,  I. 
While  fourteen  of  these  ships  returned  to  port 
"clean,"  more  than  half  of  them  brought  home 
full  cargoes,  and  it  was  in  1817,  when  those  of 
the  fleet  which  had  gone  to  the  Pacific  were  com- 
ing into  port,  that  the  recorded  catch  of  sperm 
for  the  first  time  rose  above  1,000,000  gallons, 
the  actual  amount  being  1,028,475,  worth  72  cents 
a  gallon.  The  take  of  whale  oil  was  561,830, 
which  then  sold  for  60  cents,  and  this,  with  19,444 
pounds  of  bone  that  sold  for  12  cents  a  pound 
(it  was  hardly  worth  saving  at  the  price),  brought 
the  total  income  of  the  whalers  for  that  year  up 
to  $1,091,576.88. 

Fewer  ships  had  been  fitted  for  the  fishery  in 
.1816  and  1817  than  in  1815,  but  the  success  of 
the  Pacific  ships  that  arrived  in  1817  started  a 
growth  of  the  fishery  which  continued  practically 
unchecked  for  about  thirty  years. 

A  curious  feature  of  this  growth  was  the  in- 
terest taken  by  capitalists  in  out-of-the-way  ports. 
Two  ships  sailed  from  Hudson  in  1817,  following 
those  of  1815  to  the  Pacific,  and  one,  the  Eliza 
Baker,  Captain  Paddock,  was  long  remembered 


320     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

because  she  was  overhauled  by  a  pirate  that 
robbed  her  crew  of  all  the  clothing  they  had.  In 
1818  Philadelphia  tried  whaling  with  indifferent 
success.  A  year  later  New  York  City  sent  out 
two.  Perth  Amboy  tried  the  fishery  in  1824; 
Edenton,  North  Carolina,  in  1831;  Poughkeepsie, 
in  1832;  while  Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  the 
home  of  the  cod-fishery,  turned  to  whaling  in 
1 833.  The  next  year  Newburgh,  New  York,  joined 
the  whaling  fleet,  and  Portland  and  Wiscasset, 
Maine,  came  in  during  the  same  year.  If  one 
may  judge  by  the  names  of  the  captains  of  these 
outport  ships,  the  business  was  started  in  them 
by  migrants  from  old  Nantucket  and  New  Bed- 
ford, just  as  ship-building  was  undertaken  on 
the  Ohio  River  by  migrants  from  Massachusetts. 
For  the  outport  captains  were  usually  Coffins, 
or  Starbucks,  or  Husseys,  or  Paddocks,  or  others 
with  names  familiar  on  the  island. 

The  increase  in  the  number  of  whaling  ports 
(there  were  32  all  told  in  1835)  was  indicative 
of  the  growth  of  the  fishery.  Prices  were  gradu- 
ally increasing,  while  the  enterprising  shipmasters 
were  going  farther  afield  and  discovering  new 


Whaling  as  a   Business  Enterprise       32! 

grounds  where  whales  were  numerous  and  not 
easily  frightened.  In  1835  the  whalers  brought 
home  5,181,529  gallons  of  sperm  oil,  which  sold 
at  84  cents.  The  take  of  whale  oil  was  3,950,289 
gallons,  which  sold  at  39  cents.  This  was  less  than 
the  price  of  1817,  but,  in  the  meantime,  the  price 
of  whalebone  had  increased  to  21  cents  a  pound, 
and  the  take  was  nearly  a  million  pounds.  Two 
years  later  the  take  of  whale  oil  passed  that  of 
sperm,  —  6,385,995  to  5,319,138  gallons. 

In  1829  the  American  whaling  fleet  numbered 
203  vessels;  in  1834,  421;  in  1840,  552.  In  1846 
there  were  680  ships  and  barks,  34  brigs,  and 
22  schooners,  a  total  of  736  vessels,  hunting  for 
whales  under  the  American  flag.  That  was  the 
flood-tide  year  for  the  number  of  vessels.  The 
fleet  measured  233,262  tons,  and  the  estimated 
investment  was  $21,000,000,  or  say  $28,000  per 
vessel.  It  is  certain  that  this  estimate  is  high 
enough,  for  shipowners  have  always  had  the 
habit  of  appreciating  their  own  possessions.  New 
London  owned  the  largest  ship  of  the  fleet,  the 
Atlantic,  measuring  699  tons,  and  the  smallest  as 
well,  the  schooner  Garland,  of  49  tons,  that  was 
at  work  on  the  coasts  of  Desolation  Island. 


322     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

While  many  outports  had  entered  the  trade, 
the  principal  part  of  the  growth  of  the  fleet  had 
been  in  Buzzard's  Bay.  In  1822  Nantucket  sent 
40  whalers  to  sea;  New  Bedford  sent  33.  In  the 
next  year  Nantucket  sent  19  and  New  Bedford 
26, — the  sceptre  had  departed  from  Nantucket  for- 
ever. Though  no  people  ever  loved  home  better 
than  did  the  inhabitants  of  Nantucket,  the  incon- 
veniences of  a  shallow  harbor  compelled  them  to 
move.  New  Bedford  was,  at  an  early  date,  the 
port  of  chief  importance  on  the  mainland,  and 
the  refining  business  increased  there  with  greater 
rapidity  than  at  Nantucket,  because  Nantucket 
owners  had  found  it  convenient  to  carry  their  oil 
to  Buzzard's  Bay,  even  while  they  fitted  their 
ships  at  their  home  port.  Moreover,  New  Bed- 
ford's whale  fishery  had  been  built  up,  as  noted, 
by  men  who,  for  various  reasons,  had  emigrated 
from  Nantucket  in  the  days  before  the  shoal 
water  on  Nantucket  bar  had  become  a  crying 
evil. 

Being  a  growing  port,  New  Bedford  naturally 
benefited  by  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  fishery 
at  the  outports.  The  merchants  who  made  the 


Whaling  as  a   Business  Enterprise       323 

sporadic  ventures  elsewhere  and  succeeded  were 
often  glad  to  sell  out  and  retire;  those  who 
failed  retired  perforce,  and  in  each  case  New 
Bedford  was  ready  with  the  cash  to  buy  the  ships. 

The  fishery  reached  high  water  in  Buzzard's 
Bay  in  1857,  when  New  Bedford  owned  329 
whale  ships,  and  those  owned  at  the  other  ports  of 
the  bay,  including  Fairhaven,  Dartmouth,  West- 
port,  Mattapoisett,  and  Sippican,  brought  the  Bay 
fleet  up  to  426  vessels.  New  London,  Connecti- 
cut, and  Sag  Harbor,  Long  Island,  were  consid- 
erable ports.  They  sent  seventeen  and  thirteen 
vessels  to  sea  in  the  "boom"  year  of  1846. 

In  1835  the  value  of  the  product  of  the  whalers 
exceeded  for  the  first  time  $6,000,000.  In  1845 
the  sperm-whale  fishery  reached  its  highest  point 
in  amount  of  product,  the  total  import  being 
4,967,550  gallons.  The  price  was  then  88  cents 
a  gallon.  In  1855  the  price  was  $1.772  per  gallon, 
but  the  amount  saved  was  only  2,288,443  gallons. 
Whale  oil  reached  record  figures  in  1840,  when 
the  take  was  11,593,483  gallons.  The  price, 
then  33  cents,  rose  above  73  in  1855;  but  the 
amount  then  saved  was  only  5,796,472  gallons. 


324     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

In  1853  the  product  of  bone  reached  5,652,300, 
the  record  amount.  The  price  was  then  34^ 
cents;  it  had  been  50  during  the  year  before. 
The  highest  income  received  by  the  whalers  in 
any  one  year  was  in  1854,  when  the  take  sold 
for  $10,802,594.20.  That  was  therefore  the  flood- 
tide  year  of  the  fishery.  The  catch  of  1857  sold 
for  $10,491,548.90,  and  the  years  1853  to  1857, 
inclusive,  paid  the  whalers  $51,063,659.59.  The 
catch  of  each  year  sold  for  about  50  per  cent  of 
the  estimated  investment  in  the  fleet. 

In  the  year  after  the  Superior  showed  the  way 
to  the  fishery  north  of  Bering's  Strait,  154  ships 
entered  those  waters.  Starbuck  estimates  that 
this  fleet  was  worth  $4,650,000;  the  catch  sold 
for  $3,419,622. 

Among  the  more  profitable  voyages  noted  in 
the  record  are  the  following: 

The  ship  Sarah,  Captain  Frederick  Arthur,  of 
Nantucket,  sailed  for  the  Pacific  on  May  26,  1827, 
and  reached  home  on  April  19,  1830,  with  3497 
barrels  of  sperm  oil,  the  largest  amount  ever 
brought  home  by  a  Nantucket  ship  in  a  single 
voyage.  It  sold  for  $89,000.  In  1838  the  New 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       325 

Bedford  ship  William  Hamilton,  Captain  William 
Swain,  brought  home  4060  barrels  of  sperm  oil, 
the  record  of  all  sperm  voyages.  She  had  sent 
home,  meantime,  121  barrels,  so  that  her  total  catch 
amounted  to  4181  barrels,  then  worth  $109,269. 

The  largest  single  cargo  of  whale  oil  ever 
brought  to  port  was  5300  barrels  in  the  South 
America,  Captain  R.  N.  Sowle,  of  Providence, 
Rhode  Island.  She  also  brought  200  barrels  of 
sperm  oil  and  50,000  pounds  of  bone.  She  was 
away  from  home  only  26  months.  In  1851  the 
George  Washington,  Captain  Edwards,  sailed  from 
New  Bedford,  and  in  the  course  of  her  voyage 
took  7000  barrels  of  whale  oil,  75  of  sperm,  and 
50,420  pounds  of  bone.  She  sent  home  a  large 
part  of  the  catch  by  freighters. 

While  the  Envoy  made,  as  told,  the  record  per 
cent  profit  on  the  original  investment,  the  people 
of  New  London  claim  the  honor  of  bringing  in 
the  cargo  that  sold  for  the  highest  price  and  gave 
the  largest  profit  above  the  cost  of  the  outfit. 
The  Pioneer,  Captain  Ebenezer  Morgan,  sailed 
from  that  port  on  June  4,  1864,  and  returned  on 
September  18,  1865,  with  1391  barrels  of  oil  and 


326     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

22,650  pounds  of  bone.  Small  as  this  take  was, 
it  sold  for  $151,060.  The  cost  of  the  outfit  was 
$35,800;  but  if  from  the  gross  income  the  wear 
and  tear  of  the  ship  be  deducted  instead  of  the 
whole  cost  of  the  ship,  the  net  receipts  were  above 
those  of  the  Envoy.  If  the  return  per  annum  on 
this  voyage  be  compared  with  that  on  the  Envoy, 
the  showing  is  still  better. 

The  voyage  of  the  little  schooner  Watchman, 
Captain  Charles  W.  Hussey,  of  Nantucket,  which 
sailed  in  September,  1857,  and  returned  in  August 
of  the  next  year,  is  worth  mention.  For  while  she 
saved  only  41  barrels  of  sperm  and  386  of  whale 
oil,  she  brought  in  a  quantity  of  ambergris  that 
sold  for  $10,000. 

Ambergris  is  a  secretion  found  in  the  bowels 
of  the  sperm  whale.  It  is  supposed  to  be  the 
result  of  disease.  It  has  been  found  afloat  at  sea 
and  washed  up  on  beaches,  in  various  parts  of 
the  world,  but  usually  it  has  been  secured  from 
whales  not  in  good  condition.  "It  is  used  in  the 
preparation  of  fine  perfumery,  having  the  property 
of  thoroughly  uniting  the  ingredients."  It  sells 
for  more  than  its  weight  in  gold.  In  1878  the 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       327 

Adeline  Gibbs,  of  New  Bedford,  brought  home 
132  pounds  that  sold  for  more  than  $23,000.  In 
1836  the  bark  Wade,  Captain  Charles  B.  Ray,  of 
Dartmouth,  Massachusetts,  secured  50  barrels  of  am- 
bergris, according  to  Starbuck.  Between  1836  and 
1880  the  American  whalers  saved  1667!  pounds. 

To  show  how  a  lucky  voyage  paid  the  owners 
and  crew  of  a  whaler,  the  record  of  the  Charles 
Phelps,  of  Stonington,  Connecticut,  may  be  given. 
The  Pbelps  sailed  on  August  29,  1842,  and  re- 
turned March  30,  1844.  The  following  figures 
are  from  a  history  of  the  ship  written  by  James  H. 
Weeks,  of  Stonington,  and  printed  in  the  Westerly, 
Rhode  Island,  Sun,  in  1900: 

"In  all  thirty-four  whales  have  been  captured  and 
thirty-three  were  taken  by  the  various  boats  as  follows: 

"Larboard  boat,  16;  waist  boat,  7;  starboard  boat, 
7,  bow  boat,  3;  found  dead,  I. 

"Of  this  number  five  were  sperm  and  the  remainder 
(29)  right  whales.  The  boats  were  fast  to  six  others, 
but  the  lines  parted  and  they  were  lost.  From  twelve 
the  irons  drawed,  and  ten  after  being  killed  sunk  and 
were  not  recovered.  The  number  of  irons  lost  during 
the  voyage  was  thirty-four.  Captain  Palmer  Hall  made 
his  report  and  manifest  at  the  Stonington  custom  house 


328     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

on  April  i,  1844,  and  it  shows  the  cargo  of  the  Charles  P. 
Phelps  to  have  been  as  follows : 

"2600  barrels  of  whale  oil,  140  barrels  of  sperm  oil, 
and  2600  pounds  of  bone.  The  following  value  is  placed 
on  the  entry  of  merchandise  by  Charles  P.  Williams, 
to  whom  it  was  consigned : 

2600  barrels  of  whale  oil  at  $11  per  barrel  .  $28,600 
140  barrels  of  sperm  oil  at  $29  per  barrel  .  4,060 
2600  pounds  of  whale  bone  at  33^  cents  per 

pound • 8,710 

Total $41,370  " 

One  paper  of  unusual  interest  is  the  following  under 
the  head  of  "Amount  paid  officers  and  crew  of  ship 
Charles  Phelps  on  her  first  voyage,  April,  1844: 

Captain  P.  Hall $2,544.59 

Gilbert  Pendleton,  Jr 1,624.56 

Thomas  Burtch,  Jr 942.29 

John  C.  Nichols 661.36 

Amos  P.  Wendleton 453-88 

C.  W.  Austin 44I-33 

S.  Fletcher 449-3 l 

A.  Verhoff 625.08 

E.  P.  Berry 255.22 

William  Greenman 297.64 

William  Cole 234.05 

Silas  Fitch 453.88 

Gurdon  Hall 371.16" 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       329 

Not  to  fill  the  page  with  a  list  of  forgotten 
names,  it  may  be  said  that  the  smallest  sum  re- 
ceived by  any  one  of  the  crew  was  $56.23.  He 
was  a  young  boy,  presumably.  One  sailor, 
Harry  Baker,  received  $125.12.  The  total  amount 
paid  to  the  crew  was  $13,289.77.  The  owners 
took  $28,120.33,  or  more  than  twice  as  much  as 
the  entire  crew  who  did  the  work.  Charles  W. 
Austin  was  a  boat  steerer,  one  of  the  men  on 
whom  the  ship  depended  to  fasten  the  small 
boats  to  the  whales,  yet  his  pay,  $441.33,  amounted 
to  less  than  76  cents  a  day  for  the  voyage.  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  no  man  except  the  captain  re- 
ceived in  cash  the  sum  set  to  his  name.  Every 
man  had  been  obliged  to  buy  clothing  out  of  the 
"slop  chest,"  a  chest  of  goods  carried  by  the 
captain  for  sale  to  the  crew,  and  most  of  the  men 
had  had  some  money  and  an  outfit  advanced  to 
them  on  entering  the  ship. 

The  pay  of  a  skilled  man  like  Austin  seems 
extraordinarily  small  now,  but  the  record  shows 
that  he  shipped  for  the  next  voyage  at  a  lay  of 
only  one  seventy-fifth.  The  pay  of  the  captain 
was  only  $4.36  a  day  for  the  voyage,  —  less  than 


330     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

mechanics  are  receiving  now  (1908)  in  New  York 
City. 

All  that  has  been  said  about  the  "lay"  system 
of  pay  being  the  fairest  ever  devised  for  seafar- 
ing men  might  be  repeated  here.  The  pay  of  the 
common  sailors  on  the  Phelps  was  as  good  on 
the  average  as  that  of  seamen  in  any  service 
at  that  time,  and  their  work  was  usually  much 
easier.  Moreover,  as  already  noted,  the  common 
sailor  had  a  better  chance  for  promotion. 

Yet  the  fact  remains  that  the  owners  of  the  ship 
—  and  of  every  ship  of  that  day  —  took  more 
than  a  fair  share  of  the  product  of  the  labor  of 
the  crew. 

This  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  what  may 
be  called  the  forecastle  view  of  whaling  in  the  days 
after  the  fishery  had  grown  to  a  point  where  it 
was  no  longer  possible  to  man  the  ships  from 
among  the  young  men  of  the  ports  and  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  ports,  when  the  refuse  of  all  ports  had 
to  be  taken  to  fill  up.  The  following  statements, 
written  by  United  States  Consul  F.  M.  Ring- 
gold,  from  Paita,  Philippine  Islands,  and  published 
in  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine,  must  certainly 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       331 

be  without  exaggeration  because  this  magazine 
was  the  organ  of  all  merchant-ship  owners  of  that 
day  (September,  1849): 

"All  hands  are  huddled  on  board  without  a  chance 
of  looking  at  their  chests,  for  the  contents  of  which  they 
have  given  a  receipt  which  is  to  be  deducted  from  their 
share  or  'lay.'  Each  sailor  is  charged  upon  the  owner's 
books  with  an  average  outfit  of  seventy  dollars.  By 
many  owners  interest  is  charged  on  this  outfit  from  the 
day  of  sailing  until  the  return  of  the  vessel.  When  the 
sailor  opens  his  chest  he  feels  as  we  may  suppose  the 
man  did  who  'fell  among  thieves.'  He  finds  that 
the  contents  of  the  chest  are  insufficient  for  his  comfort, 
and  that  they  are  not  worth  twenty-five  dollars  in  all. 
To  compensate  for  this  want  of  comfortable  clothing, 
he  may  procure  supplies  from  the  owner's  slop  chest, 
which  has  been  placed  on  board,  by  paying  a  hand- 
some profit  [100  to  200  per  cent]. 

"The  lay  or  share  of  a  green  hand  is  from  a  one 
hundred  and  eightieth  to  a  two  hundredth;  that  is,  one 
barrel  of  oil  out  of  every  one  hundred  and  eighty  or  two 
hundred  that  are  taken.  But  from  this,  ten  per  cent  is 
to  be  deducted  for  leakage,  and  frequently  three  per 
cent  for  insurance,  although,  if  the  vessel  is  lost,  and  is 
fully  covered  by  insurance,  the  owners  recover  all  and 
the  men  get  nothing,  because  the  charge  is  not  made 
upon  the  men  until  the  vessel  gets  home.  The  owner 


332     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

plays  an  open  and  shut  game.  If  the  vessel  gets  home 
the  sailor  pays  the  insurance,  but  if  she  is  lost  the 
owner  pays  the  insurance  and  pockets  the  profits. 

"The  following  is  the  result  of  one  seaman's  voyage 
for  four  years : 

Sailor's  share  reduced  to  money $262.25 

Less  fitting,  shipping,  and  medicine  chests       .  10.00 

Ten  per  cent  discount  on  $265.25       ....  26.22 

Three  per  cent  insurance  on  $262.25       .     .     .  7.86 

Money  originally  advanced 70.00 

Interest  on  same      . 16.80 

Cash  advanced  during  voyage 30.00 

Interest  on  same  one  per  cent  a  month  .  .  .  7.20 
Clothing  which  he  was  compelled  to  draw 

owing  to  his  bad  outfit 40.00 

To  be  deducted  from  sailor's  share  ....  $208.03 
Amount  to  be  received  at  the  end  of  the  voyage  $54.17 

"  From  3000  to  4000  young  men  yearly  sail  from  the 
United  States  and,  becoming  disgusted,  desert,  and 
either  from  shame  or  moral  corruption  never  return. 
The  cause  is  small  pay  and  bad  treatment." 

Francis  Wayland,  the  eminent  educator  and 
author,  in  a  lecture  delivered  before  the  New 
Bedford  Port  Society,  on  November  20,  1842,  a 
lecture  which  was  preserved  in  pamphlet  form, 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       333 

and  is  now  before  the  writer,  confirms  almost 
every  statement  of  the  robbery  of  the  sailors 
which  was  made  by  the  consul  quoted  above. 
"Grossly  imposed  upon  in  the  matter  of  outfit" 
and  "the  man  at  the  close  of  his  long  service 
finds  himself  as  poor  as  at  the  beginning"  are 
some  of  the  expressions  used  by  Wayland  in  his 
discourse  (p.  18). 

Bluntly  stated,  the  whale-ship  owners,  who  were 
receiving  from  25  to  50  per  cent  per  year,  clear 
profit,  on  their  investment  in  the  ships  of  that 
period,  were  willing  to  increase  their  gains  by 
sheer  robbery  of  the  men  whose  work  brought 
the  gains.  In  what  was  called  the  Golden  Era 
of  whaling  this  robbery  was  the  rule;  the  owners 
disposed  to  do  the  fair  thing  were  apparently  the 
exception.  There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
some  of  the  men  to  whom  Wayland  was  talking, 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Port  Society,  were 
chief  among  those  robbers,  and  their  support 
of  the  Society  was  only  an  evidence  of  their 
hypocrisy. 

Nor  is  that  all.  At  this  time,  when  the  fore- 
castle life  was  unendurable,  the  berth  of  the  high- 


334     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

est  officer  on  the  ship  became  something  scarcely 
worth  seeking;  for  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Golden 
Era  (1854),  when  ships  were  bringing  in  on  an 
average  $16,000  a  year  each,  the  captains  were 
paid  on  an  average  an  eighteenth,  or  about  $900 
a  year.  The  matter  is  worth  recalling  because 
the  custom  of  robbing  seamen  was  common 
throughout  the  merchant  service,  and  had  its  in- 
fluence upon  the  loss  of  American  prestige  upon 
the  high  seas. 

In  every  work  upon  the  American  whale  fishery 
much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  effect  of  the  Civil 
War  in  destroying  the  industry.  It  is  noted  that 
many  ships  were  burned  by  Confederate  cruisers 
fitted  out  in  England,  and  that  forty  ships  were 


purchased  by  the  government  and  sunk  in  the 
channel  at  Charleston.  As  the  government  paid 
a  large  price  (too  large,  in  some  cases)  for  each 
of  the  forty,  and  as  the  British  government  event- 
ually paid  something  for  the  ships  which  the 
Confederates  destroyed,  it  is  not  proved  that 
the  fishery  was  ruined  to  any  extent  by  either 
the  Confederate  cruisers  or  the  Stone  Fleet.  At 
worst,  the  owners  as  a  class  were  as  well  able  to 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       335 

begin  the  fishery  anew  at  the  end  of  the  Civil 
War  as  they  were  at  the  end  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution. 

It  may  be  noted,  too,  in  passing,  that  other 
American  ship  merchants  were  also  in  good  finan- 
cial condition  at  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  to  renew 
their  trade  upon  the  sea,  if  they  had  wished  to 
do  so;  that  is,  there  was  no  lack  of  capital  for 
sea  purposes.  Yet  the  whaling  fleet  which  had 
numbered  508  vessels  in  1860  numbered  only 
226  in  1865,  and  the  number  in  1866  was  only 
199,  although  the  prices  of  products  were  then 
higher  than  in  1865. 

Figures  are  prosy,  but  it  should  be  interesting 
to  recall  that  the  prices  of  all  whale  products  in 
the  period  of  twenty  years  immediately  following 
the  Civil  War  were,  on  the  average,  higher  than 
they  were  during  the  twenty  years  immediately 
before  that  war,  and  that  the  price  of  whale- 
bone increased  enormously  during  the  later  period. 
Thus  sperm  oil  was  selling  at  73  cents  in  1842 
and  at  82  in  1886.  It  was  $1.45!  in  1860  and 
$2.55  in  1866.  Bone  sold  for  20  cents  in  1841, 
8o£  in  1860,  $1.71  in  1865,  and  $2.68  in  1885. 


336     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  average  yearly  income  per  ship  during  the 
twenty  years  after  the  war  was  greater  than  that 
during  the  twenty  years  preceding  the  war.  The 
total  sales  of  products  in  the  year  1846  amounted 
to  $6,203,115.43,  or  $8428  for  each  ship  in  the 
fishery;  the  income  per  ship  in  1885,  $15,550. 
The  average  income  per  ship  in  1854  was  some- 
thing over  $16,000,  while  the  average  in  1905  was 
about  $19,000. 

With  individual  receipts  higher  on  the  average, 
the  number  of  ships  steadily  decreased,  but  the 
seeming  paradox  is  easily  explained.  The  prices 
of  oils  have  been  maintained  at  the  figures  noted 
solely  because  the  number  of  ships  in  the  fishery 
was  decreasing.  The  substitution  of  petroleum 
for  whale  oils  as  illuminants,  and  in  part  as  lu- 
bricants, has  destroyed  the  market  for  whale  oils, 
or  nearly  so.  The  development  of  the  cotton- 
seed oil  business  also  affected  the  fishery.  If 
the  price  of  whalebone  had  not  increased  during 
the  years  since  the  Civil  War,  it  is  likely  that  the 
whale  fishery  would  have  been  abandoned  long 
ago. 

The  competition  of  the  new  oils  was  not  the  sole 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       337 

cause  of  the  decadence  of  whale  fishery,  however, 
as  a  glance  at  the  other  branches  of  the  American 
merchant  marine  will  show,  for  American  ship 
merchants  as  a  guild  have  been  steadily  losing 
their  sea  habit.  They  have  turned  from  invest- 
ments afloat  to  those  on  shore,  save  only  as  some 
have  found  profits  in  alongshore  trades. 

In  connection  with  this  change  of  habit,  consider 
the  effect  of  forecastle  life  upon  the  young  Ameri- 
cans, as  already  described,  and  the  effect  of  the 
disgust  of  the  young  men  upon  the  ship-owning 
guild.  For  it  is  manifest  that  when  the  supply 
of  young  Americans  failed  in  the  forecastle,  the 
supply  of  men  for  the  cabin  decreased,  and  with 
the  failure  of  the  supply  of  American  officers 
there  was  a  failure  in  the  supply  of  new  blood 
that  should  have  been  infused  into  the  counting 
room.  The  young  men  who  might  have  brought 
enterprise  and  enthusiasm,  as  well  as  knowledge, 
into  the  counting  room  to  keep  up  the  needed 
evolution,  were  riding  the  line  on  Texas  cattle 
ranches  or  "booming"  town  sites  in  Kansas,  or 
sinking  prospect  holes  in  the  Rockies.  The  old- 
time  shipowners  learned  the  business  astride  of 


338     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  weather-topsail  yard-arm.  They  looked  the 
gale  in  the  eye.  Too  many  of  the  modern  ship- 
owners learned  the  business  sitting  astride  of  a 
tall  stool,  whence  they  looked  a  slow-moving  clock 
in  the  eye.  To  such  men  the  spinning  business 
and  speculating  in  stocks  seem  naturally  more 
attractive  than  any  kind  of  over-sea  trade. 

In  the  old  days  we  had  and  we  had  to  have, 
sailors  before  we  had  ships.  The  glory  of  the 
Golden  Era  of  the  Yankee  clipper,  as  of  the  Yankee 
whaler,  was  due  to  the  superiority  of  the  Yankee 
sailor,  —  the  young  men  who  waded  barefooted 
through  the  snow  in  order  to  secure  opportunity 
for  a  career  that  began  in  the  forecastle  and 
ended  in  the  counting  room.  And  the  American 
flag  will  never  regain  its  old-time  place  upon  the 
Seven  Seas  until  the  ambitious,  adventurous  young 
American  can  find  a  more  attractive  career  afloat 
than  ashore. 

Brief  space  will  serve  to  tell  about  the  modern 
uses  of  whale  products.  Sperm  oil,  as  brought 
from  the  sea,  is  purified  and  then  separated  into 
two  products,  —  oil  and  spermaceti.  The  sper- 
maceti is  used  in  making  candles,  in  giving  a  gloss 


Whaling  as  a  Business  Enterprise       339 

to  linen  in  the  laundry,  and  to  some  extent  in 
medicine.  Sperm  oil  is  used  as  a  lubricant  and 
in  softening  leather  in  the  tanneries.  Crude  whale 
oil  when  refined  yields  oil  and  a  substance  called 
whalefoots.  Whale  oil  is  used  in  ropewalks, 
and  it  is  mixed  with  black  lead  and  paraffin  to 
make  a  lubricant.  Some  of  it  is  used  in  making 
a  soap  that  is  used  by  gardeners  in  destroying 
insects;  but  most  of  the  so-called  whale-oil  soap 
is  made  of  inferior  fish  oils.  The  whalefoots  is 
used  by  tanners.  As  all  women  know,  the  whale- 
bone is  used  in  corsets  to  give  distinction  to  the 
human  form.  Steel  stays  are  in  common  use, 
but  no  metal  has  yet  been  found  that  will  take 
the  place  of  the  ever  elastic  whalebone.  The 
best  whips  are  made  with  a  heart  of  whalebone. 
On  the  whole,  the  uses  of  whale  products  are 
few  in  number,  but  each  has  thus  far  held  a  place 
which  nothing  else  could  fill. 


XIII 
THE   MUTINEERS   AND   SLAVERS 

AFTER  the  time  came  when  whaler  cap- 
tains went  to  the   "crimps"  for  crews, 
mutinies  often   occurred  in   the   fishery. 
That  is  to  say,  many  crews  became   so   discon- 
tented   for  various  reasons   that   they  broke    out 
in  open  rebellion,  refusing  to  do  duty,  deserting 
the  ship,  etc. 

The  causes  of  these  mutinies  are  not  far  to  seek. 
Testimony  that  must  be  believed  shows  that  the 
officers  were  often  brutal  in  their  treatment  of 
the  men,  and  were  willing  to  increase  the  profits 
of  the  ship  by  robbing  and,  sometimes,  starving 
them.  Starving  crews  was  certainly  uncommon 
in  the  whale  fishery;  but  legalized  robbery  was, 
as  said,  common  even  in  Wayland's  day. 

The  ordinary   mutiny  was   nothing  more  than 
what  is  now  called  a  strike.     The  men  fled  ashore 
340 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  341 

when  opportunity  offered,  and  on  other  occasions 
made  protests  to  the  captain  in  a  body.  Usually 
a  strike  was  ended  by  a  free  use  of  fists,  belaying- 
pins,  or  such  other  weapons  as  the  officers  could 
get  hold  of.  The  officers  stood  together;  the  men 
rarely  did  so. 

Of  these  lesser  mutinies  nothing  more  need  be 
said  here;  but  two  uprisings,  in  which  the  fore- 
castle men  triumphed  through  a  slaughter  of  some 
of  the  officers,  are  memorable. 

The  ship  Junior,  Captain  Archibald  Mellen, 
Jr.,  sailed  from  New  Bedford  on  July  21,  1857, 
bound  for  the  Pacific  by  way  of  the  Indian  Ocean. 
On  the  following  Christmas  day  the  ship  was  in 
south  latitude  37°  58'  and  east  longitude  166° 
57'.  The  log  of  the  ship,  as  printed  in  the  New 
Bedford  Mercury,  says  of  the  day : 

"At  sundown  shortened  sail  to  maintopsail  and 
foresail.  Middle  part,  strong  gale.  Latter  part, 
heavy  gale  from  southward.  Lying  to  at  sun- 
down." 

After  shortening  sail,  Captain  Mellen  gave 
each  man  a  small  glass  of  grog  because  it  was 
Christmas,  and  then  in  the  usual  course  the  deck 


342     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

was  left  in  charge  of  the  boat  steerers  while  cap- 
tains and  mates  turned  in  for  the  night. 

At  one  o'clock  the  next  morning,  while  the  gale 
was  raging  with  undiminished  violence,  five  of 
the  crew,  Cyrus  Plummer  (the  leader),  John 
Hall,  Richard  Cartha,  Cornelius  Burns,  and 
William  Herbert,  all  armed  with  loaded  guns, 
entered  the  cabin,  leaving  five  others  on  deck  to 
guard  the  entrance  to  the  forecastle  and  keep  the 
other  members  of  the  crew,  all  of  whom  were 
in  ignorance  of  the  plot,  from  coming  on  deck. 
The  captain  and  all  three  of  the  mates  were  sleep- 
ing soundly.  Pointing  their  guns  at  these  officers, 
and  taking  the  word  from  Plummer,  all  fired  to- 
gether. Apparently  the  guns  wabbled,  for  not 
one  of  the  officers  was  killed  outright.  The 
captain,  rising  up,  said: 

"Oh,  my  God!     What  is  this?" 

Plummer  at  once  seized  him  by  the  hair,  and 

saying,  "G d you,  it  is  me!"  struck 

him  several  blows  with  a  hatchet  and  killed  him. 

As  the  third  mate  strove  to  rise,  Cornelius  Burns 
stabbed  him  with  a  boarding  knife,  the  sword* 
like  weapon  used  in  cutting  up  blubber,  and 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  343 

killed  him.  Meantime  Cartha  struck  at  the  second 
mate  with  a  similar  weapon,  but  missed  him, 
and  then  fired  a  pistol  at  him.  Before  he  could 
finish  the  work  of  killing  this  officer,  however, 
all  the  mutineers  were  called  on  deck  to  overawe 
the  forecastle  men  who  had  been  aroused  by  the 
shooting,  and  the  first  and  second  mates  were 
left  in  the  cabin,  wounded,  but  still  able  to  walk. 
The  first  mate,  Nelson  Provost,  then  escaped  to 
the  hold  while  the  second  mate  went  on  deck, 
where  he  found  Plummer  in  full  control. 

Under  Plummer's  orders  the  men  now  threw 
the  dead  officers  overboard  and  then  the  second 
mate  was  put  in  irons.  Some  of  the  mutineers 
wanted  to  kill  him,  but  Plummer  would  not 
allow  it.  The  ship  was  then  headed  toward 
the  Australian  coast,  where  the  mutineers  intended 
to  land,  and  the  first  mate  was  left  in  the  hold  to 
shift  for  himself.  On  drawing  near  to  land, 
however,  the  need  of  a  navigator,  who,  like  the 
mate,  was  acquainted  with  the  coast,  led  the  mu- 
tineers to  hunt  him  out.  The  mate  himself  said 
afterwards  that  when  they  brought  him  up  on 
deck  his  hair  literally  stood  on  end  through  fear 


344     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

that  he  was  to  be  killed.  Of  course  he  readily 
agreed  to  serve  as  pilot. 

A  landfall  was  made  at  Cape  Howe.  Heaving 
the  ship  to,  the  mutineers  loaded  two  whale  boats 
with  such  plunder  as  the  ship  afforded  and  pulled 
ashore.  Before  leaving,  however,  Plummer,  who 
knew  that  the  ship  would  be  taken  to  some  civ- 
ilized port  as  soon  as  possible,  wrote  the  story  of 
the  mutiny  in  the  log  book  in  order  to  clear  those 
left  on  board  from  all  suspicion  of  having  had  any 
part  in  the  revolt.  As  that  was  an  unheard-of 
proceeding,  the  document  is  worth  giving  in  full. 
William  Herbert  wrote  at  Plummer' s  dictation 
as  follows: 

"This  is  to  certify  that  we,  Cyrus  Plummer, 
John  Hall,  Richard  Cartha,  Cornelius  Burns, 
and  William  Herbert,  did,  on  the  night  of  De- 
cember 25th  last,  take  the  ship  Junior  and  that 
all  others  in  the  ship  are  quite  innocent  of  the 
deed. 

"The  captain  and  third  mate  were  killed,  and 
the  second  mate  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner 
at  the  time.  The  mate  was  wounded  in  the 
shoulder  with  the  balls  from  a  whaling  gun.  At 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  345 

the  time  we  fired  we  set  his  bed  on  fire,  and  he 
was  obliged,  for  fear  of  suffocation,  to  take  him- 
self to  the  lower  hold,  where  he  remained  until 
Wednesday  afternoon. 

"We  could  not  find  him  before  that,  but  we 
undertook  a  strict  search  and  found  him  then. 
We  promised  his  life  and  the  ship  if  he  would  come 
out  and  surrender  without  any  trouble,  and  so 
he  came  out.  Since  he  has  been  in  the  ship  he 
has  been  a  good  officer  and  has  kept  his  place. 
We  agreed  to  leave  him  the  greater  part  of  the  crew 
and  we  have  put  him  under  oath  not  to  attempt 
to  follow  us,  but  to  go  straight  away  and  not 
molest  us.  We  shall  watch  around  here  for  some 
time  and  if  he  attempts  to  follow  us  or  stay 
around  here,  we  shall  come  aboard  and  sink  the 
ship. 

"If  we  had  not  found  Mr.  Nelson  the  ship 
would  have  been  lost.  We  are  taking  two  boats 
and  ten  men  and  everything  we  want.  We  did 
not  put  Mr.  Nelson  in  irons  on  account  of  his 
being  wounded,  but  we  kept  a  strict  guard  on  him 
all  the  time. 

"We   particularly  wish  to  say  that  all  others 


346     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

in  the  ship  but  we  five  aforementioned  men  are 
quite  innocent  of  any  part  in  the  affair. 

"(Signed)      CYRUS  PLUMMER. 

JOHN  HALL. 

"Witnesses:  RICHARD  CARTHA. 

"  HUGH  DUFF.  CORNELIUS  BURNS. 

HENRY  T.  LORD.  WILLIAM  HERBERT. 

HERMAN  GRAF." 

The  ship  made  port  at  Sydney.  The  author- 
ities captured  eight  of  the  mutineers,  including 
Plummer.  They  were  placed  on  the  Junior, 
where  each  was  confined  in  a  heavy  hard-wood 
cage  lined  with  iron,  and  a  guard  of  six  well-armed 
men  was  stationed  over  each  cage.  A  new  crew 
was  shipped  and  then  she  sailed  for  home. 

As  the  story  was  told  by  the  officers,  the  mutiny 
was  unprovoked,  and  Starbuck  speaks  of  it  as  a 
"diabolical  atrocity."  When  Plummer  and  his 
associates  were  put  on  trial,  however,  Benjamin 
F.  Butler,  the  noted  Civil  War  general,  took  up 
the  defence  with  such  effect  that  Plummer  only 
was  found  guilty  of  deliberate  murder.  The  facts 
of  the  mutiny  were  not  disputed,  but  it  was  testi- 
fied that  the  men  had  been  driven  to  desperation 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  347 

by  hard  fare  and  ill  treatment  on  the  part  of  the 
captain.  The  judge  charged  the  jury  that  all 
of  the  eight  men  were  equally  guilty  of  the  death 
of  the  two  officers,  but  the  jury,  believing  the  story 
of  the  ill  treatment  of  the  men,  cleared  four  of 
the  accused,  found  three  guilty  of  manslaughter, 
and  Plummer,  as  said,  guilty  of  deliberate  murder. 
Plummer  was  sentenced  to  die,  but  when  the  facts 
in  his  case  were  placed  before  President  Buchanan, 
the  sentence  was  commuted  to  imprisonment 
for  life.  Plummer  died  in  prison.  The  three 
convicted  of  manslaughter  were  in  time  released. 
There  is  but  one  mutiny  known  to  the  annals 
of  the  whalers  in  which  there  was  no  provocation, 
and  that  was  the  one  on  the  Globe,  Captain  Thomas 
Worth,  of  Nantucket.  The  Globe  sailed  from 
Edgartown,  Martha's  Vineyard,  for  the  Pacific 
on  December  15,  1822.  She  had  been  a  lucky 
ship ;  she  was  the  first  that  ever  brought  in  a  cargo 
of  2000  barrels  of  sperm  oil.  Rounding  the  Horn 
in  March,  she  reached  Oahu  in  May,  1823,  anc^ 
there  the  first  symptom  of  trouble  appeared  in 
the  desertion  of  six  men.  The  reader  will  re- 
member the  old  missionary  hymn  that  described 
the  Pacific  islands  as  regions 


348     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"Where  every  prospect  pleases 
And  only  man  is  vile." 

On  hearing  those  words  sung  at  the  bethel 
chapels  of  civilized  ports,  many  sailors  of  sinful 
habits  —  especially  such  as  found  slave  ships 
attractive  —  made  haste  to  ship  on  whalers  in 
order  that  they  might  thus  reach  those  wondrously 
beautiful  and  wicked  islands.  The  six  men  who 
deserted  from  the  Globe  were  of  this  character. 

Having  had  none  too  many  men  before  these  de- 
serted, Captain  Worth  picked  up  on  the  island  six 
to  take  their  place,  of  whom  four  were  white  men, 
one  was  a  negro,  and  one  a  native  of  the  islands, 
as  follows :  Silas  Payne  (formerly  of  Sag  Harbor, 
Long  Island),  John  Oliver,  Anthony  Hanson, 
Thomas  Liliston,  and  William  Humphries  (negro, 
from  Philadelphia),  besides  the  native.  These 
men  were  known  to  be  of  the  class  called  beach- 
combers. They  were  lazy  vagabonds  who  had 
deserted  from  other  ships  to  live  the  life  of  the 
savage  natives,  and  had  become  weary  of  it  so 
far  that  they  were  willing  to  ship  for  a  time  in 
order  to  secure  some  of  the  products  of  civiliza- 
tion not  readily  to  be  obtained  in  the  islands. 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  349 

From  the  day  the  Globe  left  Oahu  to  go  cruising, 
the  new  recruits  were  lazy  and  insolent.  To  make 
them  work  well  was  impossible.  In  spite  of,  or 
perhaps  because  of,  the  character  of  these  men,  a 
boat  steerer,  named  Samuel  B.  Comstock,  became 
very  friendly  with  them,  and  especially  with 
Payne.  Comstock,  after  the  usual  fashion,  lived 
in  the  cabin,  where  he  had  been  well  treated;  the 
third  mate,  Nathaniel  Fisher,  had  been  too  kind 
to  him.  For  Comstock  had  challenged  Fisher 
to  a  wrestling  match  at  a  time  when  men  from 
another  ship  were  visiting  on  board,  and  after 
Fisher  had  proved  himself  the  better  wrestler, 
Comstock  struck  him.  For  this  Fisher  threw 
him  to  the  deck  and  held  him  until  the  appearance 
of  anger  passed  away,  and  then  let  the  matter 
drop. 

In  time  the  tales  told  by  the  beach-combers 
about  their  life  among  the  savages  led  Comstock 
and  some  of  the  other  members  of  the  original 
crew  into  a  conspiracy  to  kill  the  officers,  and  then 
sail  to  the  Malgraves  and  there  abandon  them- 
selves to  such  joys 'as  they  might  find. 

Accordingly,  on  the  night  of  January  25,  1824, 


350     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

while  Comstock  was  in  charge  of  the  deck,  the 
conspirators  armed  themselves  for  the  attack. 
With  Comstock  in  the  lead,  and  the  negro  Hum- 
phries carrying  a  lamp  to  light  the  way,  they  found 
Captain  Worth  asleep  in  a  hammock.  Comstock 
hit  him  on  the  head  with  an  axe,  killing  him 
instantly.  Payne  then  made  a  thrust  with  a 
boarding  knife  at  William  Beetle,  the  mate,  but 
the  blow  failed,  and  the  mate,  leaping  up,  seized 
Comstock  by  the  throat.  This  attack  made 
Comstock  drop  his  axe,  but  Payne  placed  a  board- 
ing knife  in  his  hand  and  with  that  he  knocked 
the  mate,  seriously  wounded,  into  the  pantry. 
Comstock  then  stabbed  him  with  the  knife,  dis- 
abling but  not  killing  him. 

Turning  from  the  mate,  Comstock  now  locked 
the  door  to  the  room  occupied  by  Second  Mate 
John  Lumbard  and  Third  Mate  Nathaniel  Fisher. 
His  movements  had  been  so  quiet,  thus  far,  and 
withal  so  swift,  that  neither  of  these  officers  had 
been  aroused.  Having  secured  them  in  their 
room,  Comstock  now  loaded  two  muskets,  each 
of  which  had  a  bayonet  affixed  to  it.  Pointing 
one  of  the  muskets  toward  the  door  in  such  a  way 


The  Mutineers   and  Slavers  351 

as  he  supposed  would  enable  him  to  hit  one  of  the 
officers,  he  fired. 

"Was  either  of  you  hit  ?"  said  he. 

"Yes,  I  am  shot  in  the  mouth,"  replied  Fisher. 

At  that  Comstock  opened  the  door  and  thrust 
a  bayonet  at  Lumbard,  but  slipping  in  the  blood 
on  the  cabin  floor,  he  fell  headlong.  Fisher  at 
once  picked  up  the  musket  and  he  was  pointing 
it  at  Comstock's  breast,  when  the  mutineer  prom- 
ised to  spare  the  lives  of  the  remaining  officers. 
Fisher  foolishly  accepted  the  promise  and  gave 
up  the  musket.  But  no  sooner  did  Comstock 
get  the  weapon  into  his  hands,  than  he  thrust 
the  bayonet  repeatedly  into  Lumbard  and  then, 
turning  upon  Fisher,  he  reminded  him  of  the 
wrestling  match,  and  said : 

"You  have  got  to  die !" 

"If  there  is  no  hope,  I  will  at  least  die  like  a 
man,"  said  Fisher,  and  then  added,  "I  am  ready." 
Comstock  shot  him  through  the  head,  killing  him 
instantly.  A  little  later  the  mate  and  Mr.  Lum- 
bard, though  both  were  yet  alive  and  conscious, 
were  thrown  into  the  sea.  Lumbard  clung  to 
the  rail  as  well  as  he  could,  when  they  shoved  him 


352     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

overboard,  and  for  a  time  he  swam  beside  the  ship, 
begging  to  be  taken  on  board. 

Having  obtained  full  possession  of  the  ship, 
the  mutineers  headed  her  for  the  Malgraves.  On 
the  28th  the  negro,  Humphries,  was  seen  loading  a 
pistol,  and  when  asked  why  he  was  doing  so,  he 
said  he  had  heard  two  of  the  sailors  plotting 
to  retake  the  ship.  The  two  denied  the  charge, 
of  course,  and  Comstock  ordered  that  they  and 
the  negro  be  tried  by  a  jury.  The  negro,  when 
arraigned,  answered  a  few  questions  in  a  low  and 
hesitating  voice,  and  then  without  further  pro- 
ceedings, Comstock,  who  had  presided  as  judge, 
said : 

"It  appears  that  William  Humphries  has  been 
accused  of  a  treacherous  and  base  act,  in  loading 
a  pistol  for  the  purpose  of  shooting  Mr.  Payne 
and  myself.  Having  been  tried,  the  jury  will 
now  give  in  their  verdict,  whether  guilty  or  not 
guilty.  If  guilty  he  shall  be  hanged  to  a  studding- 
sail  boom  rigged  out  eight  feet  upon  the  foreyard, 
but  if  found  not  guilty  Smith  and  Kidder  shall 
be  hung  upon  the  aforementioned  gallows." 

Smith   and    Kidder  were  the   men   Humphries 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  353 

had  accused.  The  negro  was  at  once  pronounced 
guilty.  He  was  then  seated  on  the  rail  beneath 
the  foreyard,  and  a  noose  was  placed  around  his 
neck.  At  this  moment  he  said,  "Little  did  I  think 
I  was  born  to  come  to  this — "  and  then,  before  he 
could  say  more,  he  was  hoisted  to  the  end  of  the 
studding-sail  boom,  the  entire  crew  hauling  on 
the  line. 

On  February  14,  the  Globe  anchored  at  the 
Malgraves.  To  govern  his  crew  Comstock  had 
issued,  meantime,  a  decree  which  he  called  the 
law,  as  follows: 

"If  any  one  sees  a  ship  and  does  not  report  it 
immediately,  he  shall  be  put  to  death.  If  any 
one  refuses  to  fight  a  ship,  he  shall  be  put  to 
death ;  and  the  manner  of  their  death  is  this : 
They  shall  be  bound  hand  and  foot  and  boiled  in 
the  try-pots  of  boiling  oil." 

All  hands  signed  these  "laws."  Comstock 
went  ashore  to  live  as  soon  as  possible.  A  con- 
siderable quantity  of  provisions  and  plunder  (in- 
cluding a  Bible,  curiously  enough)  was  taken 
ashore.  Tents  were  made  from  sails.  In  a  few 
days  Payne  and  Comstock  quarrelled.  Oliver 


354     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  the  other  beach-combers  sided  with  Payne, 
and  with  loaded  musket  hid  near  Comstock's 
tent  in  order  to  shoot  him  as  soon  as  he  should 
appear.  When  Comstock  came  into  view  he  saw 
the  gang,  and  drawing  a  sword,  he  started  toward 
them  with  menacing  motions.  When  they  aimed 
their  muskets  at  him,  however,  he  shouted : 

"Don't  shoot  me!  Don't  shoot  me!  I  won't 
hurt  you." 

In  spite  of  this  pleading  four  muskets  were 
fired,  and  he  fell,  pierced  through  the  breast  and 
the  head  with  bullets.  He  was  dead  before  his 
body  reached  the  ground;  but  Payne,  through 
fear  that  the  shooting  had  not  killed  him,  chopped 
his  head  almost  off  with  an  axe. 

Having  sewed  the  body  in  canvas,  Payne  or- 
dered a  grave  dug  exactly  five  feet  deep.  In  this 
the  body  was  buried.  A  chapter  of  the  Bible 
was  read  and  muskets  were  discharged  by  way 
of  a  funeral  service. 

Comstock  was  killed  on  February  17.  That 
night  the  ship  was  left  in  charge  of  Gilbert  Smith, 
a  boat  steerer,  and  five  other  men.  As  soon  as 
night  came  these  men  cut  the  cable  and  sailed 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  355 

away  to  Valparaiso,  where  they  delivered  the  ship 
to  Michael  Hogan,  the  American  consul. 

The  flight  of  the  ship  left  Silas  Payne,  John 
Oliver,  Thomas  Liliston,  Roland  Coffin,  William 
Lay,  Cyrus  M.  Hussey,  Columbus  Worth,  and 
the  Sandwich  Islander  on  the  beach.  For 
several  days  Payne  and  his  chums  ruled  the 
camp  by  terror.  They  tried  to  rule  the  natives 
in  the  same  way,  and  to  this  end  they  brutally 
flogged  two  women  and  put  one  man  in  irons. 
For  this,  on  February  23,  the  natives  began  throw- 
ing stones  at  the  camp.  Payne,  seeing  what  he 
had  brought  upon  himself  and  associates,  strove 
to  pacify  the  natives,  but  it  was  now  too  late. 
They  continued  the  attack,  and  all  but  Lay  and 
Hussey  were  soon  killed.  Why  these  two  men 
were  saved  was  never  definitely  learned.  Each 
was  adopted  by  a  native  family,  and  they  were 
well  treated  until  the  United  States  war  schooner 
Dolphin,  Lieutenant  Commander  John  Percival, 
reached  the  island  on  December  29,  1825,  anc^  to°k 
them  away. 

The  story  of  the  whale  ships  that  were  used  in 
carrying  slaves  from  Africa  to  a  market  in  the  two 


356     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Americas  has  never  been  written.  In  Starbuck's 
list  of  the  sailings  of  whalers  from  different  Amer- 
ican ports  it  is  said  that  the  bark  Margaret  Scott, 
Captain  Oliver  S.  Cleaveland,  belonging  to  Rod- 
ney French,  of  New  Bedford,  and  the  Fame, 
Captain  Mitchell,  belonging  to  William  Tate, 
of  New  London,  were  diverted  to  the  slave-trade, 
the  former  on  a  voyage  begun  September  16, 
1857,  and  the  other  during  a  voyage  begun  on 
June  1 8,  1844.  Of  the  circumstances,  nothing  is 
told.  The  New  Bedford  Mercury,  in  speaking  of 
the  Stone  Fleet  that  was  fitted  out  to  block  the 
port  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  during  the 
Civil  War,  says: 

"Among  the  craft  purchased  was  the  Margaret  Scott, 
a  vessel  which  had  been  seized  a  short  time  previously 
by  a  United  States  marshal  on  the  grounds  that  she 
had  been  fitting  for  a  voyage  in  slave-trading.  Her 
commander  and  owners  were  found  guilty  of  the  charge, 
and  the  Scott  was  sold  at  auction,  and  acquired  for  the 
Stone  Fleet." 

The  whaler  Herald,  Captain  Samuel  Barker, 
that  belonged  to  Charles  P.  Williams,  of  Stoning- 
ton,  Connecticut,  is  mentioned  by  Starbuck  as 
follows : 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  357 

"Sold  at  Rio  Janeiro  ( ? ),  1848,  by  captain. 
Also  600  sperm." 

The  story  of  the  Herald,  as  told  in  a  message 
from  President  Polk,  with  accompanying  docu- 
ments (dated  March  2,  1849),  shows  that  the  cap- 
tain, after  selling  the  oil,  made  a  slave  voyage 
and  then  disappeared  with  the  ship. 

The  Laurens,  Captain  Eldredge,  belonging  to 
Tiffany  &  Halsey,  of  Sag  Harbor,  was  seized  in 
the  harbor  of  Rio  Janeiro  in  1841  by  Com- 
modore Storer,  U.S.N.,  on  a  charge  of  fitting 
out  for  the  slave-trade.  The  document  just 
quoted  also  declares  that  another  whaler  had  been 
fitted  out  at  Bahia,  and  that  it  was  supposed  to 
be  the  Cynosure,  Captain  Simonds,  belonging 
to  J.  F.  Trumbull,  of  Stonington,  Connecticut. 
Of  this  whale  ship  Starbuck  says  that  she  was 
"sold  in  Bahia."  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
slave-traders  bought  her  with  the  understanding 
that  she  was  to  be  sailed  under  the  American  flag, 
and  by  the  American  captain  and  crew,  to  the 
slave  coast.  This  done  the  captain  was  to  deliver 
her  to  the  new  owners  as  soon  as  he  learned  that 
the  slaves  were  on  the  beach  ready  to  embark. 


358     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  flag  thus  protected  the  ship  to  the  last 
moment. 

Of  the  noted  whaler  bark  Augusta,  that  was 
fitted  out  for  the  slave-trade  by  Appleton  Oakes 
Smith,  a  son  of  the  poetess  Elizabeth  Oakes 
Smith,  it  is  recorded  that  she  was  sold  to  Smith 
before  she  was  fitted  out.  It  is  worth  noting 
perhaps  that  the  price  received  by  the  owners 
was  $7000,  a  fact  that  has  some  bearing  on  the 
cost  of  fitting  out  ships  for  the  whale  fishery. 

When  certain  peculiarities  of  the  whale-ship 
are  considered  in  connection  with  the  needs  of  a 
ship  in  the  slave-trade,  it  is  seen  that  all  whalers 
were  very  well  adapted  to  carry  "black  ivory," 
as  the  negroes  were  called.  Thus  the  try-pots 
were  excellent  for  cooking  large  quantities  of 
food,  and  the  barrels  used  normally  for  oil  would 
serve  equally  well  for  carrying  water  needed  in 
such  large  quantities  on  a  slaver.  What  was  of 
more  importance  still,  a  whale-ship  could  sail  to 
the  coast  of  Africa  with  her  try-pots  in  place  and 
with  barrels  full  of  water,  and  when  within  sight 
of  the  beach  could  defy  the  inspecting  officer  from 
any  of  the  men-o'-war  stationed  on  the  coast 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  359 

to  suppress  the  slave-trade.  For  whales  were  to 
be  found  on  that  coast;  moreover  it  was  the  cus- 
tom to  keep  water  in  such  barrels  as  were  set  up 
so  that  they  would  not  shrink  apart.  The  temp- 
tation to  enter  the  trade  was  enormous.  Thus 
while  a  whale-ship  averaged,  as  noted,  $16,000  a 
year  income,  in  1854  the  average  profit  on  a  cargo 
of  slaves  delivered  in  Cuba  or  Brazil  was  about 
$250  a  head.  If  well  handled,  a  whaler  might 
deliver  from  600  to  800  slaves,  and  so  clear  from 
$150,000  to  $200,000  on  a  single  trip.  While  a 
captain  averaged  $900  a  year  in  the  whale  fishery, 
he  might  receive  $9000  or  more  for  a  single  voyage 
on  a  slaver;  what  he  might  make  by  running  away 
with  a  ship  shall  appear. 

In  the  meantime  the  public,  especially  the  New 
York  ship-owning  public,  looked  upon  the  laws 
against  the  slave-trade  as  the  Wall  Street  financiers 
of  1906  regarded  the  laws  forbidding  railroads 
giving  rebates  to  favored  shippers.  Lawyers 
were  found  to  declare  the  anti-slave-trade  laws 
unconstitutional,  just  as  lawyers  in  1906  declared 
laws  pertaining  to  railroads  unconstitutional. 

The  slaver  captains  and  mates  used  to  live  in 


360     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  East  Side  region  of  New  York,  between  James 
and  Houston  streets.  The  arrangements  for 
slaver  voyages  were  made  at  the  Astor  House 
and  other  first-class  hotels.  If  by  chance  a  slave- 
ship  was  captured,  ship  merchants  of  the  highest 
reputation  stood  ready  to  bail  the  accused.  If 
by  any  chance  a  slaver  officer  were  incarcerated 
for  a  time,  he  lived  the  life  of  a  Sybarite  while 
behind  the  bars.  Even  after  the  war  was  begun, 
the  consideration  shown  these  men  whom  the 
law  declared  to  be  pirates  was  such  as  to  astound 
the  modern  reader.  Thus  it  is  a  matter  of  record 
that  one  of  the  United  States  attorneys  detailed 
to  prosecute  Appleton  Oakes  Smith  was  seen 
dining  at  the  most  stylish  restaurant  in  town 
with  the  criminal  he  was  to  try.  It  was  this  shock- 
ing condition  of  public  opinion  in  the  United  States 
that  led  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  when  in  Rio 
Janeiro,  to  write  (February  18,  1845)  to  tne  Hon. 
John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  State,  saying : 

"I  beseech,  I  implore  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  take  a  decided  stand  on  this 
subject.  You  have  no  conception  of  the  bold 
effrontery  and  the  flagrant  outrages  of  the  African 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  361 

slave-trade.  .  .  .  And  every  patriot  in  our  land 
would  blush  for  our  country  did  he  know  and  see, 
as  I  do,  how  our  own  citizens  sail  and  sell  our 
flag  to  the  uses  and  abuses  of  that  accursed  traffic, 
in  almost  open  violation  of  our  laws.  We  are 
a  byword  among  the  nations,  —  the  only  people 
who  can  fetch  and  carry  any  and  every  thing  for 
the  slave-trade,  without  fear  of  English  cruisers ; 
and  because  we  are  the  only  people  who  can,  are 
we  to  allow  our  proudest  privilege  to  be  perverted, 
and  to  pervert  our  own  glorious  flag  into  the 
pirate's  flag  ?" 

For  more  than  fifteen  years  after  that  letter 
was  written  the  state  of  public  opinion  allowed 
the  free  use  of  the  flag  to  the  slaver  pirates.  With 
this  fact  in  mind,  one  is  able  to  appreciate  the 
assertion  that,  in  all  the  annals  of  the  whale 
fishery,  no  statement  more  to  the  credit  of  the 
American  whalemen  can  be  found  than  this: 
that  of  more  than  2000  ships  which  sailed  in  the 
fishery  between  1808,  when  the  slave-trade  be- 
came unlawful,  and  the  Civil  War,  when  blood 
and  fire  purified  the  public  mind  in  that  one 
respect,  only  five  whale-ships  became  known  to 


362     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  records  as  slave  carriers.  A  few  others  were, 
very  likely,  so  used,  but  the  record  does  not  show 
the  fact. 

The  story  of  the  slaver-whaler  Fame  is  soon 
told.  Captain  William  Tate  bought  her  in  Boston 
in  1844,  and  sent  her  to  sea  on  June  18.  On  the 
way  to  the  Pacific  the  mate  was  killed  by  a  whale, 
and  in  1846  Captain  Mitchell  died.  There  is 
nothing  to  show  whether  she  had  taken  any  oil, 
meantime.  The  second  mate,  a  native  of  the 
Azores  whose  home  was  in  New  London,  and 
who  had  shipped  under  the  name  of  Anthony 
Marks,  took  the  ship  to  Rio  Janeiro,  where  she 
arrived  in  December,  1846.  Marks  told  the 
United  States  consul,  Mr.  Gorham  Parks,  that 
the  ship  needed  repairs,  and  that  when  he  had 
made  them,  he  intended  to  go  whaling  and  try  to 
make  amends  for  the  ill  luck  of  the  ship  thus  far. 
The  consul,  of  course,  approved  this  proposition 
and  supervised  the  repairs ;  but  when  they  were 
completed,  Marks  took  on  supplies  of  which  Parks 
knew  nothing,  and  then,  with  a  number  of  Bra- 
zilians and  Portuguese  on  board  as  passengers,  he 
sailed  away.  Having  gone  to  the  east  coast  of 


The  Mutineers  and  Slavers  363 

Africa,  a  cargo  of  530  slaves  was  taken  on  board. 
These  were  so  well  handled  that  only  three  died 
on  the  way  back,  and  the  survivors  were  landed 
at  Amazonas,  near  Cape  Frio,  Brazil. 

For  his  success,  Marks  received  $40,000.  The 
forecastle  men  received  from  $250  to  $340  each. 
The  slaver  voyage  lasted  about  five  months. 

The  consul  made  an  effort  to  capture  the  stolen 
ship,  but  he  failed.  Marks  took  her  to  Paranagua, 
where  he  altered  her  so  that  she  could  not  be  rec- 
ognized by  her  owners.  Of  her  subsequent  career 
there  is  no  record,  but  she  was  undoubtedly 
sailed  in  the  trade  until  unspeakably  foul  and 
then  burned. 

As  a  final  touch  to  the  picture  of  the  whalers 
as  slavers,  brief  reference  may  be  made  to  the 
loss  of  the  ship  Cassander,  Captain  Winslow,  that 
sailed  from  Providence  on  November  19,  1847. 
It  appears  that,  when  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  she 
took  on  board,  as  members  of  the  crew,  two 
negroes.  From  the  coast  the  ship  sailed  out  to 
sea,  and  between  4  and  5  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
on  May  I,  1848,  the  crew  found  her  on  fire. 
When  the  alarm  was  given,  and  all  hands  were 


364     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

called  to  save  the  ship,  the  two  Africans  jumped 
into  the  sea.  Lines  were  thrown  to  them,  but 
neither  would  accept  the  offer  of  help,  and  one  of 
them  soon  sank.  The  other  was  picked  up  by  a 
boat  and  brought  on  board,  where  he  confessed 
that  he  and  the  other  negro  had  set  fire  to  the 
ship,  because  they  believed  they  were  to  be 
carried  to  America  and  sold  as  slaves.  The 
efforts  to  extinguish  the  flames  proved  vain.  The 
crew  were  driven  to  the  boats,  in  which  they 
drifted  without  food  for  ten  days  before  they 
were  picked  up.  In  the  meantime  two  of  them 
had  died  from  starvation. 


XIV 
TALES  OF  WHALERS  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

WHEN  one  asks  the  people  of  New  Bed- 
ford for  the  name  of  the  best-remem- 
bered whaler  hero  of  the   Civil  War, 
they    reply    promptly    that    it    was    Commander 
William    P.    Randall.     Randall,    as   the   story   is 
told,  first  gained  fame  locally  as  the  second  mate 
of  a  Pacific  whaler. 

The  third  and  fourth  mates  of  the  ship  were 
relatives  of  the  captain,  and,  as  sometimes  hap- 
pened in  the  whale  fishery,  the  skill  and  success 
of  the  second  officer  did  not  prove  wholly  accept- 
able to  the  captain,  for  the  reason  that  the  other 
mates  were  thereby  thrown  somewhat  into  the 
shade.  While  laboring  under  such  a  disadvan- 
tage as  these  circumstances  imposed,  Randall, 
and  the  other  mates  as  well,  lowered  for  a  whale. 
The  captain  ordered  Randall  to  play  loose  boat, 
—  lie  ofF,  —  allow  the  others  to  strike  the  whale, 
365 


366     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  then  go  in  and  help  as  he  could.  The  orders 
were  obeyed,  of  course.  In  due  time  the  whale 
was  struck  by  the  third  and  fourth  mates,  and 
then  when  Randall  pulled  in  and  fastened  to  it 
the  whale  at  once  turned  to  fight.  In  the  melee 
the  whale  turned  a  somersault  between  the  boats 
and  came  up  with  Randall's  line  tangled  in  its 
teeth.  The  other  boats  now  cut  loose,  and  the 
whale  fled  with  Randall  in  tow. 

Just  as  night  came  the  men  managed  to  get  the 
boat  within  reach,  and  Randall  killed  the  whale; 
but  when  he  was  boring  a  hole  through  the  whale's 
fluke  for  the  tow  line,  he  had  the  misfortune  to 
"split  his  hand  quite  open  to  the  bone  on  the 
spade  edge."  And  then,  "as  if  his  troubles  must 
needs  come  upon  him  all  at  once,"  says  Bullen, 
in  an  account  written  for  the  New  Bedford  Mer- 
cury, "he  had  hardly  completed  his  rude  surgery 
on  the  wounded  hand  when  a  huge  Kanaka,  his 
harpooner,  suddenly  seemed  to  become  crazy  with 
fear  of  the  darkness  and  his  inability  to  see  the 
ship.  He  howled  with  fright  and  demanded 
water  and  food.  .  .  .  Randall  tried  to  soothe 
the  frantic  man,  but  finding  that  he  could  not  do 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      367 

so,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  crew  showed  signs  of 
demoralization,  he  reached  for  his  bomb  gun,  and 
calling  all  hands  to  witness  that  if  compelled  to 
shoot  the  Kanaka,  he  was  doing  such  an  act 
only  in  the  common  interest,  he  sat  pointing  the 
gun  with  its  awful  charge  at  the  mouthing,  gesticu- 
lating negro,  trying  meanwhile  to  ignore  the  pain 
which  was  slowly  deadening  his  left  side  from  the 
jaw  to  the  waist. 

"And  there  in  his  loneliness  and  full  acceptance 
of  responsibility  sits  the  youth,  Randall,  feeling 
face  to  face  with  death,  .  .  .  but  fully  determined 
to  die  if  he  must  man  fashion,  .  .  .  until  with 
eyes  that  grow  humid  with  gratitude  he  sees  the 
tender  flush  of  dawn  mantling  the  east,  .  .  .  and 
lifting  his  voice  in  the  long  mellow  'Sail  ho!' 
brings  all  his  men  out  of  their  slumbers  into  re- 
joicing consciousness." 

With  such  a  reputation  as  the  spirit  thus  ex- 
hibited could  give  him,  Randall  entered  the  Union 
navy  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  secured 
the  rank  of  acting  master,  and  was  assigned  to 
the  old  sailing  sloop-of-war  Cumberland.  He 
was  stationed  in  command  of  the  after  pivot  gun. 


368     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

On  March  8,  1862,  the  Cumberland  was  lying 
at  anchor  just  to  the  west  of  Newport  News 
Point,  at  Hampton  Roads.  The  frigate  Congress 
was  lying  not  far  away,  and  at  intervals  up  the 
roads  toward  Fortress  Monroe  were  a  number  of 
other  Union  war-ships.  Up  the  James  River,  and 
just  within  the  range  of  vision  of  the  lookout  of 
the  Cumberland,  were  a  number  of  small  Con- 
federate steamers  that  had  recently  come  down 
the  river  and  were  lying  at  anchor  as  if  meditating 
a  run  through  the  blockade  which  the  Cumber- 
land and  the  other  ships  were  maintaining.  Lieu- 
tenant George  U.  Morris,  the  executive  officer, 
was  temporarily  in  command  of  the  Cumberland, 
the  commander  having  been  ordered  elsewhere 
for  the  day. 

It  was  a  very  quiet,  pleasant  day.  The  crew 
of  the  Cumberland  took  in  hand  the  laundry  work 
of  the  ship  that  morning,  and  when  noon  came 
the  clothes  were  on  lines  strung  up  in  the  rigging. 

For  weeks  past  rumors  about  a  Confederate 
ironclad  that  was  said  to  be  building  at  Norfolk 
had  come  to  the  fleet.  "Contrabands,"  as  the 
runaway  slaves  were  called,  brought  the  rumors. 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      369 

They  had  reported  the  new  ship  (known  as  the 
Merrimac)  nearly  ready  for  action,  but  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  Union  ships  was  one  of  the 
conservatives  who  did  not  have  any  faith  in  the 
negroes,  and,  what  was  of  more  importance,  he 
had  no  idea  that  the  "new-fangled"  notion  of  a 
ship  would  amount  to  anything  even  if  she  did 
come. 

A  little  before  I  o'clock,  when  she  was  by  no 
means  expected,  the  Confederate  ship  came  into 
view.  She  was  out  for  a  trial  trip,  and  her  com- 
mander, Commodore  Franklin  Buchanan,  was  de- 
termined to  give  her  such  a  trial  as  no  ship  had 
ever  had  before.  Steaming  across  the  bay  he 
headed  first  of  all  for  the  Cumberland.  The  drums 
beat  to  quarters,  and  the  crew  were  standing  at 
their  guns  as  the  strange-looking  craft  drew 
near.  They  saw  her  pass  the  frigate  Congress, 
firing  her  bow  gun  at  that  ship  as  she  came,  and 
then  they  opened  on  her  with  such  guns  as  would 
bear.  Chief  among  these  was  the  after  pivot  gun, 
under  the  command  of  Master  Randall.  With 
cool  precision  he  loaded  and  fired,  —  as  coolly  as 
he  had  in  former  times  loaded  and  fired  the  bomb 


370     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

gun  at  whales.  But  the  shot,  though  aimed  with 
deadly  accuracy,  made  no  more  impression  than 
if  he  had  fired  a  musket  instead  of  a  cannon. 
Wholly  uninjured,  the  great  ironclad  came  on 
until,  with  a  mighty  crash,  her  bow  was  driven 
into  the  side  of  the  Cumberland.  Then  she  drew 
away,  and  with  her  crew  working  her  guns  she 
passed  on,  steamed  up  the  James  a  little  way, 
turned  around,  and  came  back  beside  the  old 
sloop-of-war. 

The  Cumberland  was  settling  by  the  bow 
rapidly,  and  the  whole  crew  could  hear  the  water 
roaring  in  through  the  hole  that  had  been  made 
in  her.  But  when  the  Confederate  ranged  up 
and  demanded  that  she  surrender,  Lieutenant 
Morris  replied: 

"Never!     I'll  sink  alongside." 

Then  "the  gun  crews  kicked  off  their  shoes 
and  stripped  to  the  waist.  Tanks  of  cartridges 
were  hoisted  on  the  gun  deck  and  opened,  and 
round  after  round  was  fired  at  the  ironclad. 
Never  did  a  crew  fight  a  ship  with  more  spirit 
and  hardihood  than  these  brave  fellows  of  the 
Cumberland  while  the  vessel  was  going  down." 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      371 

Finally  the  rising  tide  reached  the  deck  where 
Randall  and  his  men  were  working  their  pivot 
gun.  The  order  to  abandon  ship  had  already 
been  given,  and  those  able  to  do  so  had  fled  over 
the  rail,  —  all  but  Randall's  crew.  The  water 
was  lapping  their  feet,  but  they  lingered  until 
Randall  aimed  and  fired  the  gun,  and  then  with 
the  water  sissing  into  the  gun's  hot  muzzle  they 
leaped  for  life. 

On  the  recommendation  of  Lieutenant  Morris, 
who  is  memorable  forever  as  one  who  would 
"sink  alongside"  rather  than  surrender,  Master 
Randall  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  volunteer 
lieutenant  "for  coolness  and  bravery."  He 
eventually  obtained  the  commission  as  ensign  in 
the  regular  line  of  the  navy,  and  was  placed  on 
the  retired  list  as  a  lieutenant  commander  on 
August  6,  1886. 

Although  more  than  forty  years  have  now 
passed  since  the  end  of  the  Civil  War,  the  old 
ship  merchants  of  New  England,  and  especially 
the  whale-ship  owners,  yet  find  some  difficulty  in 
calling  the  Confederate  cruisers  by  any  other 
name  than  "pirates."  The  thorough  work  done 


372     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

by  some  of  those  cruisers  was  enough,  naturally, 
to  create  bitter  memories;  but  to  add  to  the  bitter- 
ness the  cruiser  captains  did  some  things  that 
outraged  the  feelings  of  the  captured  ships'  crews 
in  a  way  hard  to  forget.  Thus  when  Commander 
Raphael  Semmes,  while  in  command  of  the 
cruiser  Sumter,  learned  that  the  crew  of  the 
Confederate  privateer  Savannah  had  been  placed 
on  trial  in  New  York  for  piracy,  he  confined  eight 
of  the  merchant  seamen  he  had  captured  and 
gave  them  "to  understand  that  they  were  hos- 
tages, and  that  their  discharge,  their  close  confine- 
ment, or  their  execution,  as  the  case  might  be, 
depended  upon  the  action  of  their  own  govern- 
ment in  the  case  of  the  Savannah  prisoners." 
(Memoirs  of  Service  Afloat,  p.  178.) 

As  was  eventually  seen,  the  men  of  the  Sa- 
vannah were  not  pirates;  they  had  been  legiti- 
mately serving  the  Confederate  government.  The 
Confederate  president,  Jefferson  Davis,  on  learn- 
ing that  the  Savannah's  men  were  to  be  tried  as 
pirates,  ordered  a  number  of  United  States  sol- 
diers placed  in  confinement  as  hostages  to  abide 
the  fate  of  those  sailors,  and  in  this  act  he  was, 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War       373 

of  course,  entirely  justified.  It  was  one  thing, 
however,  for  the  president  of  the  Confederacy  to 
select  captured  soldiers  as  hostages  in  such  a 
case,  and  an  entirely  different  one  for  the  com- 
mander of  a  cruiser  to  select  merchant  seamen 
for  a  similar  purpose. 

Then,  after  the  Federal  authorities  had  cap- 
tured and  imprisoned  in  irons  the  paymaster  of 
the  Sumter,  Semmes,  instead  of  referring  the 
matter  to  his  government  for  action,  avenged 
himself  and  the  paymaster,  as  he  said,  by  putting 
in  irons  and  otherwise  ill  treating  the  crews  of 
several  captured  whalers.  "I  pursued  this  prac- 
tice, painful  as  it  was,  for  the  next  seven  or  eight 
captures,  putting  the  masters  and  mates  of  the 
ships,  as  well  as  the  crews,  in  irons."  (Memoirs- 
of  Service  Afloat,  p.  429.) 

Starbuck,  in  describing  another  feature  of  the 
work  of  the  Confederate  cruisers,  says : 

"They  adopted  a  device  to  ensnare  their  vic- 
tims which  can  but  be  severely  reprobated  as 
inhuman.  Capturing  a  vessel,  they  waited  until 
night  had  fallen  upon  the  scene,  and  then,  firing 
her,  they  pounced  upon  the  unfortunates  who, 


374     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

obeying  the  natural  impulses  of  humanity,  bore 
down  for  the  burning  craft  to  save  the  lives  they 
believed  to  be  endangered.  Thus  were  captured 
and  burned  by  the  Alabama  the  ships  Benjamin 
Tucker,  Osceola,  Virginia,  and  Elisha  Dunbar,  of 
New  Bedford;  Ocean,  of  Sandwich;  Alert,  of 
New  London,  and  schooners  Altamaba,  of  Sippi- 
can,  and  Weather  Gage,  of  Provincetown,  all  of 
whom,  attracted  by  the  burning  of  the  Ocean 
Rover,  of  Mattapoisett,  hastened  to  rescue  the 
shipmates  whose  lives  they  believed  to  be  im- 
perilled." 

Semmes'  story  of  the  burning  of  the  Ocean 
Rover  is  entirely  different  from  that  told  by  Star- 
buck,  and  it  may  be  given  here  not  only  as  a 
matter  of  justice  to  Semmes,  but  because  it  de- 
scribes in  an  interesting  way  the  destruction  of 
a  number  of  the  whaling  fleet.  Semmes  says,  in 
Memoirs  of  Service  Afloat,  p.  431 : 

"Later  in  the  afternoon  we  chased  a  large  ship, 
looming  up  almost  like  a  frigate,  in  the  north- 
west, with  which  we  came  up  about  sunset.  We 
had  showed  her  the  American  colors,  and  she 
approached  us  without  the  least  suspicion  that 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      375 

she  was  running  into  the  arms  of  an  enemy.  .  .  . 
This  large  ship  proved  to  be  the  Ocean  Rover,  of 
New  Bedford,  Massachusetts.  She  had  been  out 
three  years  and  four  months,  cruising  in  various 
parts  of  the  world;  had  sent  home  one  or  two 
cargoes  of  oil,  and  was  now  returning  herself 
with  another  cargo  of  eleven  hundred  barrels. 
The  master,  though  anxious  to  see  his  wife,  and 
dandle  on  his  knee  the  babies  that  were  no  longer 
babies,  with  true  Yankee  thrift  thought  he  would 
just  take  the  Azores  in  his  way  home,  and  make 
another  'strike'  or  two,  to  fill  up  his  empty  casks. 
The  consequence  was,  as  the  reader  has  seen,  a 
little  disappointment.  I  really  felt  for  the  honest 
fellow,  but  when  I  came  to  reflect  for  a  moment 
upon  the  diabolical  acts  of  his  countrymen  of 
New  England,  who  were  out-heroding  Herod  in 
carrying  on  against  us  a  vindictive  war,  filled 
with  hate  and  vengeance,  the  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness which  had  begun  to  well  up  in  my  heart 
disappeared,  and  I  had  no  longer  any  spare  sym- 
pathies to  dispose  of. 

"It  being  night  when  the  capture  was  made,  I 
directed  the  prize  to  be  hove  to  in  charge  of  a 


376     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

prize  crew  until  morning.  In  the  meantime, 
however,  the  master,  who  had  heard  from  some 
of  my  men  that  I  had  permitted  the  master  of 
the  Ocmulgee  and  his  crew  to  land  in  their  own 
boats,  came  to  me  and  requested  permission  to 
land  in  the  same  manner.  We  were  four  or  five 
miles  from  the  land,  and  I  suggested  to  him  that 
it  was  some  distance  to  pull. 

"'Oh,  that  is  nothing,'  said  he;  'we  whalers 
sometimes  chase  a  whale  on  the  broad  sea  until 
our  ships  are  hull  down  and  think  nothing  of  it. 
It  will  relieve  you  of  us  the  sooner,  and  be  of  some 
service  to  us  besides.' 

"Seeing  that  the  sea  was  smooth,  and  that 
there  was  really  no  risk  to  be  run,  for  a  Yankee 
whale  boat  might  be  made,  with  a  little  manage- 
ment, to  ride  out  an  ordinary  gale  of  wind,  I  con- 
sented, and  the  delighted  master  returned  to  his 
ship  to  make  the  necessary  preparations.  I  gave 
him  the  usual  permission  to  take  what  provisions 
he  needed,  the  whaling  gear  belonging  to  his 
boats,  and  the  personal  effects  of  himself  and 
men.  He  worked  like  a  beaver,  for  not  more 
than  a  couple  of  hours  had  elapsed  before  he 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      377 

was  again  alongside  of  the  Alabama  with  all  his 
six  boats  with  six  men  in  each,  ready  to  start  for 
the  shore.  I  could  not  but  be  amused  when  I 
looked  over  the  side  into  these  boats  at  the  amount 
of  plunder  that  rapacious  fellow  had  packed  into 
them.  They  were  literally  loaded  down  with  all 
sorts  of  traps,  from  the  seaman's  chest  and  bed- 
ding to  the  tabby  cat  and  parrot.  Nor  had  the 
'main  chance'  been  overlooked,  for  all  the  'cabin 
stores'  had  been  secured,  and  sundry  barrels  of 
beef  and  pork  besides.  I  said  to  him : 

'"Captain,  your  boats  appear  to  me  to  be 
rather  deeply  laden;  are  you  not  afraid  to  trust 
them  ?' 

"'Oh,  no,'  he  replied;  'they  are  as  buoyant  as 
ducks,  and  we  shall  not  ship  a  drop  of  water.' 

"After  a  detention  of  a  few  minutes,  during 
which  my  clerk  was  putting  the  crew  under 
parole,  I  gave  the  master  leave  to  depart. 

"The  boats,  shoving  off  from  the  side,  one  by 
one,  and  falling  into  line,  struck  out  for  the 
shore.  That  night  landing  of  this  whaler's  crew 
was  a  beautiful  spectacle.  The  moon  was  shin- 
ing brightly,  though  there  were  some  passing 


378     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

clouds  sailing  lazily  in  the  upper  air.  Flores, 
which  was  sending  off  to  us,  even  at  this  distance, 
her  perfumes  of  shrub  and  flower,  lay  sleeping  in 
the  moonlight.  The  rocky  islets  that  rise  like  so 
many  shafts  out  of  the  sea,  devoid  of  all  vegetation 
and  at  different  distances  from  the  shore,  looked 
weird  and  unearthly.  The  boats,  moving  swiftly 
and  mysteriously  toward  the  shore,  might  have 
been  mistaken,  when  they  had  gotten  a  little  dis- 
tance from  us,  for  Venetian  gondolas  with  their 
peaked  bows  and  sterns,  especially  when  we 
heard  coming  over  the  sea,  a  song,  sung  by  a 
powerful  and  musical  voice,  and  chorussed  by 
all  the  boats.  Those  merry  fellows  were  thus 
making  light  of  misfortune,  and  proving  that  the 
sailor,  after  all,  is  the  true  philosopher.  But 
little  I  dreamed,  as  I  stood  on  the  deck  of  the 
Alabama,  and  witnessed  the  scene  I  have  de- 
scribed, that  four  years  afterward  it  would  be 
quoted  against  me  as  a  violation  of  the  laws  of 
war!  And  yet  so  it  was.  It  was  alleged  by  the 
malice  of  my  defamers,  who  never  have  and 
never  can  forgive  me  for  the  destruction  of  their 
property,  that  miles  away  at  sea,  in  rough  and 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      379 

inclement  weather,  I  compelled  my  prisoners  to 
depart  for  the  shore  in  leaky  and  unsound  boats, 
at  a  hazard  of  their  lives,  designing  and  desiring 
to  drown  them !  And  this  is  all  the  thanks  I 
received  for  setting  some  of  these  fellows  up  as 
nabobs  among  the  islanders.  Why,  the  master 
of  the  Ocean  Rover,  with  his  six  boats  and  their 
cargoes,  was  richer  than  the  governor  when  he 
landed  in  Flores,  where  the  simple  islanders  are 
content  with  a  few  head  of  cattle,  a  cast  net,  and  a 
canoe. 

"The  Alabama  had  now  two  prizes  in  com- 
pany [the  schooner  Starlight,  a  cargo  carrier 
bound  from  Boston  to  the  Azores,  had  been  taken 
before  the  Ocean  Rover  appeared],  with  which  she 
lay  off  and  on  the  island  during  the  night,  and 
she  was  destined  to  secure  another  before  morn- 
ing. I  had  turned  in  and  was  sleeping  soundly 
when  about  midnight  an  officer  came  below  to 
inform  me  that  there  was  another  large  ship 
close  on  board  of  us.  I  was  dressed  and  on  deck 
in  a  few  minutes.  The  stranger  was  plainly  visi- 
ble, being  not  more  than  a  mile  distant.  She 
was  heading  for  the  island.  I  wore  ship  as 


380     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

quietly  as  possible  and  followed  her,  but  she  had 
in  the  meantime  drawn  some  distance  ahead, 
and  an  exciting  chase  now  ensued.  We  were 
both  close-hauled  on  the  starboard  tack,  and  the 
stranger,  seeing  that  he  was  pursued,  put  every 
rag  of  sail  on  his  ship  that  he  could  spread.  I 
could  but  admire  her  with  her  square  yards  and 
white  canvas,  every  sheet  home  and  every  leach 
taut.  After  a  chase  of  about  four  hours,  day 
broke,  when  we  hoisted  the  English  ensign.  This 
was  a  polite  invitation  to  the  chase  to  show  her 
colors,  but  she  declined  to  do  so.  We  now  felt 
sure  that  she  was  an  enemy,  .  .  .  and  fired  a 
blank  cartridge.  Still  she  was  obstinate.  She 
was  steering  for  Flores  and  probably,  like  the 
Starlight,  had  her  eye  on  the  marine  league. 
Having  approached,  in  another  half  hour,  within 
good  round-shot  range,  I  threw  a  32-pounder  near 
enough  to  her  stern  to  give  her  captain  a  shower 
bath.  In  a  moment  more  we  could  see  the  stars 
and  stripes  ascending  to  the  stranger's  peak,  the 
mainyard  was  swung  aback,  and  the  prize  had 
surrendered  herself  a  prisoner.  She  proved  to 
be  the  Alert,  of  and  from  New  London,  and 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      381 

bound  by  way  of  the  Azores  and  Cape  de  Verde 
Islands  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  She- was  only  six- 
teen days  from  port,  with  files  of  late  newspapers ; 
and  beside  her  own  ample  outfit  for  a  large  crew 
and  a  long  voyage,  she  had  on  board  supplies  for 
the  group  known  as  the  Navigators'  Islands,  in 
the  South  Indian  Ocean,  where  among  icebergs 
and  storms  the  Yankees  had  a  whaling  and  seal- 
ing station.  .  .  .  We  paroled  the  officers  and 
crew  of  the  Alert  and  sent  them  ashore  in  their 
own  boats  as  we  had  done  the  others. 

"I  now  had  three  prizes  on  my  hands,  and  as 
I  could  make  no  better  use  of  them,  thanks  to 
the  unfriendly  conduct  of  neutrals,  ...  we  had 
three  funeral  pyres  burning  around  us  at  the 
same  moment.  The  other  whalers  at  a  distance 
must  have  thought  that  there  were  a  good  many 
steamers  passing  Flores  that  day.  There  was 
more  work  for  us  ere  night  set  in.  Another  sail 
was  discovered  standing  in  for  the  island.  We 
proceeded  to  meet  the  stranger,  who  was  standing 
in  our  direction.  The  ships  approached  each 
other  very  rapidly,  and  we  soon  discovered  the 
new  sail  to  be  a  large  schooner  of  unmistakable 


382     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

Yankee  build  and  rig.  .  .  .  Upon  being  boarded 
she  proved  to*  be  the  Weathergauge,  a  whaler  of 
Provincetown.  .  .  .  We  now  landed  the  crew  of 
the  Weatbergauge  in  their  own  boats,  with  the 
usual  store  of  provisions  and  traps,  and  burned 
her.  Two  days  elapsed  now  without  a  capture. 
On  the  third  day  the  welcome  cry  of  'Sail  ho!' 
again  rang  from  the  masthead,  and  on  making 
sail  in  the  direction  indicated  by  the  lookout,  we 
soon  discovered  the  chase  was  a  whaler.  And  in 
an  hour  or  two  more  we  were  alongside  of  the 
American  whaling  brig  Altamaha,  from  New  Bed- 
ford, five  months  out.  The  Altamaha  had  had 
but  little  success,  and  was  comparatively  empty. 
She  did  not  make  so  beautiful  a  bonfire,  therefore, 
as  the  other  whalers  had  done." 

As  one  chase  was  very  much  like  another,  it 
will  suffice  to  say  here  that  the  next  whaler  taken 
was  the  Benjamin  Tucker,  of  New  Bedford,  with 
340  barrels  of  oil  on  board.  She  was  fired  at  10 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  schooner  Courser, 
of  Provincetown,  was  the  next  victim.  She  was 
burned  in  the  forenoon,  also,  after  which  the 
crews  of  the  three  ships  last  mentioned  were  sent 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      383 

ashore  in  their  own  boats.  The  Virginia  was  the 
next  whaler  captured,  and  of  her  Semmes  says : 

"The  torch  having  been  applied  rather  late  in 
the  afternoon,  the  burning  wreck  was  still  visible 
some  time  after  nightfall."  This,  according  to 
his  account,  was  the  only  ship  that  might  have 
served  to  toll  on  the  unwary  whalers  of  the  vicinity 
at  night,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  none  came  within 
sight  in  consequence  of  her  flames. 

The  most  important  of  the  Confederate  cruisers, 
in  the  whalers'  point  of  view,  was  the  Shenandoah. 
Lieutenant  John  M.  Brooke,  of  the  Confederate 
navy,  had  seen  service  in  the  northern  Pacific 
while  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  from  his 
knowledge  of  the  whalers  he  worked  out  a  scheme 
for  raiding  the  fleet  near  Bering's  Strait.  A 
British  steamer,  renamed  the  Shenandoah,  was 
fitted  for  this  service  under  Lieutenant  James 
Iredell  Waddell. 

On  his  way  to  Bering's  Strait,  Waddell  stopped 
at  Ascension  Island,  and  found  in  the  port  four 
whale  ships,  of  which  three  were  American  and 
one  was  under  the  Honolulu  flag.  The  cruiser's 
boat  having  brought  all  the  whaler  captains  to 


384     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

the  Shenandoah,  Waddell  told  them  their  ships 
were  confiscated  to  the  Confederate  government. 

"Well,  that's  pretty  quick  done,"  said  Captain 
Chase,  of  the  Hector. 

"None  of  your  impertinence  to  an  officer  of  the 
Confederate  navy,"  said  Waddell. 

"I'm  not  impertinent,"  said  Chase;  "but  it's 
pretty  quick  done,  just  the  same." 

For  that  remark,  Waddell  ordered  the  whaler 
placed  in  double  irons  and  "gagged  for  disre- 
spect," according  to  the  log  of  the  Shenandoah ; 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  officer  who  was  ordered 
to  do  the  gagging  did  not  do  it. 

Later  Waddell  made  an  effort  to  induce  Cap- 
tain George  O.  Baker,  of  the  Edward  Gary,  to 
join  the  Shenandoah' s  crew,  for  she  was  short  of 
men.  Captain  Baker  says  he  enjoyed  life  and 
free  drinks  for  several  hours,  while  Waddell  was 
explaining  the  situation,  but  when  he  finally 
refused  to  join  her  he  was  put  in  double  irons. 

On  leaving  Ascension  (April  13,  1865)  the 
Shenandoah  went  to  the  Okhotsk  Sea  and  Bering's 
Strait  region.  Between  the  zyth  of  May  and  the 
end  of  June  she  captured  twenty-four  whalers 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      385 

and  one  trader.  On  June  22  five  whalers  were 
taken,  among  them  being  the  Milo,  the  captain 
of  which  told  Waddell  that  the  war  was  ended. 
As  the  Milo  had  no  papers  on  board  to  sub- 
stantiate the  statement,  Waddell  refused  to  be- 
lieve it.  The  Milo  was  bonded  for  $46,000,  — 
her  master  agreed  that  the  owners  would  pay 
that  sum  to  the  cruiser's  commander  within  six 
months  after  the  independence  of  the  Confederacy 
was  acknowledged  by  the  United  States.  She  was 
then  released  to  carry  home  the  crews  of  other 
whalers  which  were  burned.  One  ship  was  taken 
on  the  23d  of  June  and  another  on  the  25th,  and 
then  on  the  26th  six  more  were  secured.  All  the 
eight  were  destroyed.  On  the  2/th  the  trader 
Susan  Abigail  came  to  the  Skenandoak,  wholly 
unaware  that  she  was  in  any  danger.  She  had 
sailed  from  San  Francisco  on  April  19,  and  had 
on  board  files  of  newspapers  to  that  date.  These 
papers  told  of  the  surrender  of  General  Lee  and 
the  Confederate  army  of  Northern  Virginia;  of 
the  occupation  of  the  Confederate  capital  by 
Federal  troops;  of  the  flight  of  President  Davis 
and  his  cabinet.  Fort  Fisher,  at  Wilmington, 


386     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

North  Carolina,  had  long  since  fallen,  and  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina,  had  been  captured.  Sher- 
man had  been  pressing  the  Confederate  army 
under  Johnson  (the  last  of  the  Confederate  armies) 
so  closely  that  Johnson  had  asked  (April  14)  for  a 
cessation  of  hostilities,  "the  object  being  to  per- 
mit the  civil  authorities  to  enter  into  the  needful 
arrangements  to  terminate  the  existing  war." 
(Johnson's  letter.)  The  war  was,  in  fact,  ended, 
but  no  formal  proclamation  of  the  ending  of  hos- 
tilities had  been  made,  and  Waddell  continued 
his  work  of  destruction.  The  Susan  Abigail  was 
burned.  On  June  28  eleven  whalers  were  cap- 
tured, of  which  two  were  bonded  to  carry  the 
crews  and  the  others  were  burned. 

The  Shenandoah  now  turned  southward,  and 
on  August  2  fell  in  with  the  English  bark  Barra- 
couta,  "from  San  Francisco  to  Liverpool,  thirteen 
days  out.  Having  received  from  the  Barracouta 
the  sad  intelligence  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Con- 
federate government"  (quoted  from  the  Shenan- 
doah's  log),  the  cruiser  was  taken  to  Liverpool 
and  there  surrendered  to  the  British  authorities, 
who  turned  her  over  to  the  United  States. 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      387 

Among  the  whalemen  captured  by  the  Sbenan- 
doah  on  June  27,  especial  mention  must  be 
made  of  Captain  Thomas  G.  Young,  of  the  bark 
Favorite,  of  Fairhaven.  When  he  saw  that  the 
cruiser  was  really  an  enemy,  he  loaded  his  whal- 
ing guns  and  such  muskets  as  were  on  board, 
hoisted  the  old  flag,  and  mustered  his  crew  for  a 
fight.  He  then  took  his  station  on  the  roof  of  the 
cabin  and  when  the  boat  from  the  Shenandoab 
approached  to  demand  his  surrender,  he  shouted: 

"Boat  ahoy!" 

"'Ahoy!'"  responded  the  officer  in  charge,  to 
quote  the  story  as  told  in  Hunt's  The  Sbenandoab. 

"Who  are  you,  and  what  do  you  want?'  was 
his  next  salutation. 

"We  come  to  inform  you  that  your  vessel  is  a 
prize  to  the  Confederate  steamer  Shenandoab' 

"I'll  be  d — d  if  she  is,  at  least  just  yet,  and 
now  keep  off  or  I'll  fire  into  you!' 

"The  old  Spartan  began  to  squint  along  his 
bomb  gun,  and  the  men  to  handle  their  muskets 
in  such  a  decidedly  businesslike  manner,  that  it 
was  perfectly  apparent  that  he  intended  to  carry 
his  threat  into  execution. 


388     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"Seeing  this  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  boat 
hailed  our  ship,  reported  the  state  of  things,  and 
wished  to  know  if  it  was  the  captain's  desire 
that  he  should  board  in  spite  of  resistance.  Cap- 
tain Waddell  ordered  the  boat  back  to  the  Shen- 
andoah,  which  immediately  steamed  towards  the 
contumacious  Yankee,  and  ranged  alongside. 

"The  skipper  still  stood  by  his  bomb  gun  with 
his  forces  drawn  up  on  deck  as  though  he  actually 
meditated  fighting  it  out. 

"'Haul  down  your  flag!'  shouted  the  officer  of 
the  deck  as  soon  as  we  were  near  enough  for  his 
voice  to  be  heard  on  board  the  whaler. 

"'Haul  it  down  yourself,  G — d  d — n  you,  if 
you  think  it  will  be  good  for  your  constitution!' 
was  the  plucky  response. 

"'If  you  don't  haul  it  down,  we'll  blow  you  out 
of  water  in  five  minutes.' 

'"Blow  away,  my  buck,  but  may  I  be  eternally 
blasted  if  I  haul  down  that  flag  for  any  cursed 
Confederate  pirate  that  ever  floated.'" 

A  boat  was  now  sent  to  take  the  whaler  on 
board  the  Shenandoab.  It  was  able  to  get  along- 
side the  whale  ship  without  a  fight  solely  because 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      389 

her  under  officers  had  seen  from  the  first  that 
resistance  was  hopeless,  and  when  loading  the  guns 
had  omitted  to  put  percussion  caps  on  the  nipples. 
Captain  Young  aimed  his  gun  at  the  Confeder- 
ates, but  when  he  pulled  the  trigger  the  weapon 
was  not  discharged.  To  this  statement  Starbuck 
adds: 

"His  inhuman  captors,  who  were  unable  to 
appreciate  bravery,  put  him  in  irons  in  the  top- 
gallant-forecastle, and  robbed  him  of  his  money, 
his  watch,  and  even  his  shirt  studs." 

One  might  doubt  Starbuck's  statement  but  for 
the  character  that  Hunt,  quoted  above  (he  was 
an  acting  master  on  the  Shenandoah},  gives 
Waddell.  He  says  (pp.  262-263)  that  after 
the  cruiser  reached  Liverpool,  Captain  Waddell 
deliberately  swindled  the  Shenandoah's  crew  out 
of  a  large  sum  of  money  that  had  been  placed  in 
his  hands  by  the  Confederate  agent  for  their  use. 

A  brief,  picturesque  Civil  War  story  of  the 
whalers  is  that  told  of  the  Stone  Fleet.  An 
early  move  of  the  Federal  authorities  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Union  was  the  blockading  of 
the  Confederate  ports.  Exactly  185  harbor  and 


390     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

river  openings  were  to  be  closed  absolutely 
against  commerce.  For  this  purpose  three 
naval  steamers  and  sixteen  ships  of  the  sail 
were  available  when  the  proclamations  were 
issued,  and  the  number  of  merchant  ships  that 
could  be  purchased  and  armed  within  reasonable 
time  was  limited.  In  the  emergency  some  one  in 
the  Navy  Department  suggested  that  Charleston, 
the  leading  port  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  might  be 
closed  by  sinking  stone-laden  vessels  in  the  chan- 
nel. This  plan  having  been  adopted,  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Gustavus  V.  Fox,  con- 
tracted with  Richard  H.  Chappell,  of  New  Haven, 
to  supply  forty-five  vessels  of  any  kind  that  could 
be  floated  to  Charleston.  As  many  old  whale  ships 
were  then  at  the  piers  of  New  Bedford,  Mr.  Chap- 
pell  went  there  and  succeeded  in  buying  twenty 
four.  The  prices  paid  for  these  whalers  ranged 
from  $3150  to  $6500,  a  fact  of  some  bearing  upon 
the  estimated  amount  of  capital  invested  in  whale 
ships  during  the  Golden  Era.  The  ships  were 
bought  as  they  lay  at  the  piers  with  their  whaling 
gear  on  board.  This  gear  was  sold,  and  many  a  fine 
bargain  was  obtained  by  the  town's  speculators. 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      391 

"As  fast  as  each  ship  was  emptied,  she  was 
fitted  for  convenient  scuttling.  About  two  inches 
above  the  light-water  line  a  two-inch  hole  was 
bored  in  the  counter,  running  completely  through 
the  side  of  the  vessel.  Into  this  from  each  side 
was  inserted  a  plug  turning  to  a  loose  fit  and 
provided  with  a  flange  head  sufficiently  large  to 
close  the  opening.  These  two  plugs  were  bolted 
together  by  a  bolt,  passing  through  the  centre, 
held  by  a  head  on  the  outside  and  by  a  wrench 
nut  on  the  inside."  At  the  proper  time  the  nuts 
were  unscrewed,  the  bolt  knocked  out,  and  the 
two  plugs  were  allowed  to  fall  out  and  let  the 
water  pour  in.  One  James  Duddy,  having  the 
contract  for  supplying  the  stone  for  the  fleet, 
"started  into  the  country  and  soon  had  all  the 
farmers  tearing  down  walls  and  loading  stone  on 
drays."  So  says  the  New  Bedford  Mercury. 

Crews  having  been  shipped  for  the  voyage  to 
Charleston,  seventeen  of  the  twenty-four  were 
anchored  in  the  bay  below  the  city.  The  captains 
of  this  fleet  then  met  and  elected  Captain  Rodney 
French  (he  who  had  been  convicted  of  fitting 
out  the  Margaret  Scott  as  a  slaver)  as  their  com- 


392     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

modore.  Said  Captain  J.  M.  Willis,  one  of  the 
captains,  in  regard  to  this  choice: 

"When  all  preparations  were  made,  we  decided 
on  Rodney  French  for  commodore  of  the  fleet. 
Rodney,  who  was  afterwards  mayor  of  New 
Bedford,  was  a  pretty  good  fellow,  told  a  good 
story,  and  was  generally  liked  by  the  rest  of  the 
captains.  There  was  only  one  of  the  captains 
who  thought  Rodney  was  not  the  man  for  the 
position." 

On  November  20,  at  7  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  fleet  weighed  anchor  and  reached  down 
Buzzard's  Bay  in  a  flock,  piling  on  the  canvas 
and  racing  like  a  fleet  of  yachts  on  a  club  cruise. 
They  were  bound  for  Savannah  as  a  rendezvous, 
and  the  survivors  yet  tell  with  glee  that  the  com- 
modore's ship  was  the  last  to  arrive  because 
he  took  the  coast  route  while  the  others  reached 
offshore  and  held  a  good  wind.  On  December 
19  and  20  they  gathered  in  the  channel  at  Charles- 
ton, where  Acting  Master  George  H.  Bradbury, 
of  the  frigate  Wabasb,  located  each  ship.  Then 
all  were  stripped  of  their  sails  and  rigging,  the 
masts  were  cut  away  on  most  of  them,  and,  the 


Tales  of  Whalers  in  the  Civil  War      393 

plugs  having  been  knocked  out,  they  all  sank  to 
the  bottom. 

An  old  war-time  lithograph  that  is  greatly 
prized  by  New  Bedford  people,  and  can  be  seen 
well  framed  in  many  houses  there,  is  entitled: 
"View  of  the  Stone  Fleet  Which  Sailed  from 
New  Bedford  Harbor." 


XV 
IN  THE  LATER  DAYS 

WE  never  tire  of  telling  the  story  of  Cap- 
tain George  Fred  Tilton,"  said  Zephe- 
niah  W.  Pease  in  his  Pen  Pictures  of 
Typical  Whalemen,  printed  in  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  number  of  the  New  Bedford  Mercury. 
In  1898  the  Bering  Strait  whaling  fleet  of  eight 
vessels  was  caught  in  the  ice  off  Point  Barrow. 
The  Belvedere  was  one  of  the.  fleet  and  Tilton 
was  her  mate.  The  month  of  October  found 
the  vessels  still  in  the  ice.  The  westerly  wind 
blew  steadily  and  the  vessels  were  lying  close 
together  on  the  east  shore.  They  were  short  of 
supplies,  and  the  whalemen  foresaw  that  unless 
they  obtained  help  in  some  way  before  the  arrival 
of  the  fleet  of  the  next  summer  all  were  likely  to 
perish.  Every  day  was  an  anxious  one.  Finally 
the  crew  of  the  Bessie  H.  Freeman  were  awakened 
one  night  by  the  crushing  of  the  ship,  and  the 

394 


In  the  Later  Days  395 

company  of  forty-nine  men  had  barely  time  to 
jump  for  the  ice  before  she  was  utterly  destroyed. 
They  went  to  tTTe  Belvedere.  A  few  hours  later 
the  captain  and  fifty-five  of  the  crew  of  the  Orca 
came  to  the  same  ship  and  said  that  they  had  been 
forced  to  come  by  the  destruction  of  their  ship. 

Various  plans  for  reaching  the  open  water  were 
tried.  Dynamite  was  used  to  open  a  way,  but  it 
failed  to  accomplish  the  desired  result.  When 
all  means  had  failed,  an  accounting  of  the  food 
on  hand  showed  that  since  the  supplies  on  the 
Freeman  and  the  Orca  had  been  lost,  there  cer- 
tainly was  no  hope  that  all  hands  could  survive 
until  the  next  summer. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs,  Tilton  offered  to 
attempt  to  reach  a  shore  whaling  station  on  the 
southerly  coast  of  Alaska  whence  supplies  might 
be  forwarded.  The  captains  without  exception 
flouted  the  suggestion,  but  Tilton  said: 

"  It  is  our  only  hope.  We  cannot  survive  with- 
out assistance  until  summer.  I  have  a  fighting 
chance  if  I  go,  and  scarcely  that  if  I  remain. 
If  any  one  can  make  the  trip,  I  can." 

The    latter    assertion    was    a    conceded    point, 


396     The   Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

and  after  a  long  consultation  the  captains  gave 
a  reluctant  consent.  At  Point  Barrow,  Tilton 
got  a  sled  drawn  by  eight  young  dogs  and  two 
Indian  runners.  The  sled  was  fitted  with  a  sail 
to  ease  the  work  of  the  dogs  when  the  wind  was 
fair.  Such  provisions  as  could  be  spared  — 
principally  hardtack  —  were  given  him,  together 
with  a  map,  a  compass,  a  gun  and  cartridges, 
and  a  tent.  Then  on  October  27  all  the  crews 
assembled  to  see  him  start.  There  were  few 
who  did  not  believe  that  he  would  soon  perish 
in  one  of  the  blizzards  that  were  fast  coming  on, 
and  when  he  began  his  journey  they  cheered  him 
until  he  was  out  of  sight. 

During  the  first  day  Tilton  covered  twenty- 
eight  miles,  but  never  again  was  he  able  to  do  as 
well.  The  next  day  a  storm  kept  the  men  in  their 
sleeping  bags  all  day.  The  third  day  Tilton  lost 
his  axe,  which  had  been  invaluable  for  cutting 
fuel  and  making  paths.  They  subsequently  found 
a  knife  in  some  deserted  Eskimo  huts,  but  it 
could  by  no  means  replace  the  axe.  Then  Tilton's 
feet  and  hands  were  frosted  and  on  the  twelfth 
day  the  wind  blew  the  shelter  tent  away,  leaving 


In  the  Later  Days  397 

the  men  no  protection,  except  that  afforded  by 
the  sled  which  they  turned  up  at  night  for  a  wind- 
break. 

The  wind  in  the  mountains  of  Cape  Lisburne 
was  so  fierce  that  it  lifted  the  party  from  the  trail. 
A  few  frozen  fish  were  found,  but  on  the  fifteenth 
day  the  provisions  gave  out,  then  the  dogs  were 
killed,  one  by  one,  as  food  for  the  others.  Days 
of  starvation  followed,  but  a  village  of  Eskimos 
was  found  at  Cape  Hope,  six  hundred  miles  from 
the  starting  point  of  the  journey. 

Here  a  little  food  was  secured,  but  the  Indian 
guides  deserted.  Undaunted,  Tilton  prevailed 
upon  an  Eskimo  man  and  woman  to  take  their 
place  and  then  went  on  for  twenty-nine  days, 
during  which  a  single  fish  of  small  size  per  day 
was  all  the  food  the  party  had.  At  St.  Michael's, 
as  the  station  for  which  he  was  bound  was  called, 
the  Jarvis  relief  expedition  was  found,  and  to 
it  was  given  needed  information  as  to  the  best 
way  to  reach  the  whale  ships.  Then  Tilton  went 
on  once  more,  constantly  on  the  verge  of  starva- 
tion, until,  on  March  22,  he  arrived  at  the  Kadiak 
Islands.  Thus  he  was  adrift  in  the  Arctic  through 


398     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

all  that  winter.  At  the  Kadiaks  he  was  able  to 
secure  transportation  to  San  Francisco. 

"If  Tilton  had  been  a  professional  explorer," 
says  the  Mercury,  "the  world  would  have  pro- 
claimed this  marvellous  achievement,  and  he 
would  have  been  celebrated  in  books,"  but  he 
"made  nothing  of  it  and  reshipped  for  another 
whaling  voyage." 

Captain  Tilton's  adventure  is  made  to  serve 
as  an  introduction  to  this,  the  final  chapter  of 
the  book,  because  the  story  of  the  whalers  in  the 
later  years  is  to  be  found  chiefly  in  the  annals  of 
the  Arctic  beyond  Bering's  Strait,  —  along  the 
northwest  coast  of  Alaska,  where  Tilton  found 
his  opportunity.  On  the  whole,  the  story  is  one 
of  disasters,  and  the  greatest  disaster  of  all  was 
that  occurring  in  the  fall  of  1871,  when  thirty-four 
whale  ships,  and  one  trader  from  San  Francisco, 
with  crews  numbering  more  than  1200  souls, 
were  caught  by  the  ice  near  Point  Belcher,  on 
the  extreme  northwest  coast  of  the  continent. 

In  all,  forty-two  whalers  gathered  at  the  edge 
of  the  ice  early  in  May,  1871,  and  worked  their 
way  north  as  the  ice  retreated  or  opened,  until, 


In  the  Later  Days  399 

at  the  end  of  June,  they  were  able  to  pass  through 
the  strait  into  the  Arctic  Ocean.  During  July 
all  but  one,  the  Oriole,  Captain  H.  S.  Hayes, 
followed  the  Alaska  coast  until  within  a  few 
miles  of  Icy  Cape,  and  finally,  early  in  August, 
some  of  them  were  able  to  reach  up  past  Wain- 
wright  Inlet,  and  almost  to  Point  Belcher.  Dur- 
ing all  this  time  they  were  never  for  a  moment 
out  of  sight  of  the  unbounded  ice  of  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  save  only  when  the  fogs  shut  them  in. 
The  open  water  stretching  along  the  coast  was 
never  more  than  ten  miles  wide  at  most;  it  was 
commonly  no  more  than  three  or  four,  and  it 
was  in  this  narrow  lead  that  the  fleet  worked 
along  to  the  points  mentioned.  They  were  at 
anchor  every  night  and  sometimes  for  days  at 
a  stretch.  The  open  lead  was  flecked  over  with 
cakes  of  loose  ice  which  varied  in  size  from  that 
of  a  country  schoolhouse  up  to  that  of  a  city 
block.  In  among  these  blocks  of  ice  the  whales 
appeared,  now  and  then,  jetting  their  vapory 
breath  into  the  freezing  cold  air.  Indeed,  "green" 
lookouts  sometimes  mistook  the  spray  of  a  wave 
that  was  dashed  against  the  weather  side  of  a 


400     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

cake  of  ice  for  the  less  familiar  breath  of  a  whale. 
It  was  (and  it  is  yet)  the  custom  to  send  the 
small  boats  cruising  among  these  cakes  of  ice 
in  search  of  whales.  They  pulled  in  among 
the  cakes  wherever  they  found  room  for  their 
oars,  and  they  followed  the  narrow  leads  or 
cracks  in  the  main  field  itself. 

The  boats  were  lowered  for  this  kind  of  work 
and  sent  cruising  under  sails  and  oars,  hither 
and  yon,  on  August  n.  Some  had  the  luck  to 
strike  and  kill  whales  which  they  were  towing  to 
their  ships,  while  others  were  in  pursuit  of  whales, 
when  the  wind  suddenly  shifted  to  the  southwest, 
and  the  ice  began  to  close  in  on  boats  and  ships 
alike. 

Some  of  the  boats  managed  to  pull  clear,  but 
many  of  them  were  caught  in  the  leads  through 
the  pack.  The  crews  of  these  boats  were  obliged 
to  clamber  up  on  the  ice  and  by  means  of  lines 
hoist  the  boats  up  where  temporary  safety  might 
be  found.  Then  they  began  the  slow  work  of 
tracking  the  boats  across  the  ice  toward  the 
ships.  In  the  meantime  the  ice  was  closing  in 
around  the  ships.  In  haste  the  men  on  board 


In  the  Later  Days  401 

got  up  the  anchors  and  set  such  sail  as  was  needed 
to  keep  the  vessels  ahead  of  the  ice.  In  some 
cases  the  danger  was  so  imminent  that  it  was 
necessary  to  slip  the  cable.  Only  those  who 
have  seen  Arctic  ice  can  fully  appreciate  the 
scene  or  the  hardships  endured  by  the  crews 
as  they  worked  upon  and  in  front  of  the  irre- 
sistible ice-field. 

In  time,  of  course,  the  pack  grounded,  for 
field  ice  reaches  down  from  three  to  five  fathoms 
below  the  surface  of  the  water;  and  because  the 
ships  were  of  shoal  draft,  and  the  gale  was  mod- 
erate (by  the  Arctic  standard),  the  fleet  was  for 
the  time  safe.  But  the  open  water  in  which  they 
were  imprisoned  was  in  no  place  more  than  half 
a  mile  wide,  while  the  breadth  was  in  places  two 
hundred  yards.  Worse  yet,  it  was  certain  that 
if  the  gale  should  increase,  the  ice  would  be  driven 
to  the  beach. 

Nevertheless,  no  sooner  did  the  ice  cease  its 
advance  than  every  crew  set  lookouts  once  more, 
and  every  man  was  alert  to  respond  to  the  old 
cry  of:  "Blow!  blow!  Thar  she  blows!" 

For  two  weeks  the  crews  worked  the   narrow 


4O2     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

water.  They  even  went  offshore  on  the  ice 
and  killed  whales  in  the  pocket-like  openings 
found  in  the  ice-field.  Blow  high  or  blow  low, 
they  were  there  for  oil  and  bone,  and  they  would 
neglect  no  opportunity  that  offered,  merely  be- 
cause the  ice  was  threatening. 

On  August  25  a  strong  northeast  gale  came. 
The  whalers  had  been  expecting  it  to  come,  and 
it  released  the  entire  fleet  by  driving  the  pack 
away  to  a  distance  of  from  four  to  eight  miles. 
When  the  ice  began  to  move  off,  the  Eskimos 
flocked  to  the  ships  and  told  the  captains  that 
this  was  the  last  opportunity  that  would  be  offered 
for  escape;  but  the  captains  laughed  at  the  friendly 
warning.  The  whales  were  coming  from  under 
the  ice  in  numbers  greater  than  at  any  time  dur- 
ing the  season ;  moreover,  another  northeast  wind 
was  sure  to  follow  the  southwest  gale  which  the 
Eskimos  said  was  due  in  a  short  time.  In  Sep- 
tember they  would  pull  out  for  home,  —  not 
sooner. 

For  four  days  the  whalers  prospered.  Then 
the  wind  shifted  to  the  southwest,  as  the  Eskimos 
had  predicted.  It  was  not  a  bad  gale  at  first, 


In  the  Later  Days  403 

but  on  September  2  it  came  with  a  fury  that  was 
irresistible.  The  Comet,  a  ship  that  had  faced 
the  pack  many  a  time,  was  caught  between  two 
huge  floes  and  squeezed.  Every  frame  was 
broken  and  her  stern  was  forced  out  until  it  hung 
in  a  bulging  mass  above  the  ice.  The  crew  fled 
to  the  other  ships  and  were  saved. 

Some  of  the  captains  would  now  have  been 
glad  to  up  anchor  for  home,  but  it  was  too  late; 
so  they  kept  on  whaling,  hoping  for  a  northeast 
gale.  So  it  happened  on  the  yth  while  the  crew 
of  the  bark  Roman  were  cutting  in  a  whale,  the 
ice  began  to  swirl  under  the  impulse  of  the  wind, 
and  it  literally  ground  the  old  vessel  to  kindling 
wood.  The  next  day  the  Awashonks  was  de- 
stroyed in  like  fashion.  The  Awashonks  was 
the  vessel  that,  under  Captain  Prince  Coffin, 
was  attacked  by  the  natives  of  Namorik  Island 
away  back  in  1835,  with  the  result  that  Coffin, 
two  mates,  and  four  of  the  sailors  were  killed. 
Then  under  the  impulse  of  the  gale  the  ice  began 
to  rise  up  over  the  shoals  near  the  beach,  and 
all  hands  soon  saw  that  it  would  certainly  sweep 
across  the  beach  itself  before  many  days. 


404     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

At  a  consultation  of  all  the  shipmasters  it 
was  decided  to  send  Captain  R.  D.  Frazer,  of 
the  Florida,  to  explore  such  open  water  as  was 
to  be  found  alongshore  to  the  south  and  west,  — 
the  narrow  lead  between  the  beach  and  the  ice- 
field. He  returned  on  the  I2th  and  reported 
the  ice  blockade  solid,  save  for  a  lead  just  wide 
enough  for  small  boats,  to  a  distance  of  eighty 
miles  from  the  fleet.  Beyond  the  ice  he  had 
found  seven  whalers  that  were  safe  enough,  and 
they,  he  said,  would  stand  by  until  the  crews  of 
the  beleaguered  ships  could  reach  them. 

To  cover  eighty  miles,  even  in  the  teeth  of  an 
Arctic  gale,  if  that  had  been  all,  was  no  great 
hardship  to  old  whalemen.  But  here  were  cap- 
tains who  had  the  savings  of  a  lifetime  invested 
in  the  ships  they  must  leave,  and  every  one  in 
leaving  his  ship  left  the  job  by  which  he  was 
supporting  his  family.  Worse  yet,  some  of  the 
captains  had  their  families  with  them.  The 
women  and  children  must  be  taken  from  the 
comfort  afforded  by  stanch  ships  into  the  open 
boats  where,  drenched  with  the  freezing  spray 
which  the  gale  would  throw  over  them  at  every 


In  the  Later  Days  405 

plunge  of  the  bow,  they  must  endure  life  as  well 
as  they  could  in  the  journey  down  the  long,  narrow 
lead. 

Beginning  at  the  stroke  of  the  bell  at  noon 
on  September  14,  every  ship  set  her  ensign,  with 
the  union  down.  Then  the  crews  climbed  over 
the  rails,  helped  the  women  and  children  down 
ladders  to  the  boats,  and  when  all  were  ready 
the  whole  flotilla,  numbering  nearly  two  hundred 
boats,  bearing  1219  souls,  headed  away  down 
the  lead. 

"It  was  just  4  o'clock  when  we  shoved  off  from 
the  Victoria"  said  Captain  Davis,  one  of  the  un- 
fortunates, in  relating  the  story  to  the  writer. 
"The  sleet  and  snow  were  flying  around  us,  and 
the  blasts  of  wind  that  swept  across  the  ice-fields 
made  nothing  of  flannels  and  oilskins;  but  there 
was  nothing  else  to  do  but  pull  away  at  the  oars, 
as  best  we  could,  the  whole  night  long.  When 
daylight  came  we  were  strung  along  the  open 
streak  in  a  procession  like  the  geese  I  was  telling 
you  about.  Some  were  rowing,  some  were  pad- 
dling, some  had  rails  set.  Between  the  snow  and 
sleet  squalls  we  could  see  the  whole  flotilla,  but 


406     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

at  times  we  couldn't  see  the  next  boat,  though 
no  further  away  than  a  ship's  length. 

"So  we  kept  going,  flinching  when  the  squalls 
struck  us,  but  thinking  all  the  time  about  how 
much  worse  it  was  for  them  that  had  their  women 
and  children  along.  Of  course  we  had  food 
enough,  —  boiled  beef  and  pork  and  bread  that 
we'd  made  ready  before  we  left  the  ships,  but 
we  hadn't  any  coffee  and  we  hadn't  any  way  to 
make  any.  Along  about  four  in  the  afternoon 
we  saw  on  the  beach  a  considerable  lot  of  drift- 
wood and  with  that  we  couldn't  stand  it  any 
longer  without  the  coffee.  We  pulled  ashore 
and  the  rest  followed." 

Huge  fires  were  built  and  the  boats  were  drawn 
up  and  turned  on  edge  to  make  shelters.  With 
a  number  of  sand-dunes  found  there  to  help 
break  off  the  wind,  the  company  became  almost 
comfortable.  Supper,  with  plenty  of  hot  coffee, 
was  prepared,  and  when  that  was  eaten,  every- 
body went  to  sleep  in  spite  of  the  sleet-laden 
gale  and  the  outlook  for  the  morrow.  Next 
morning,  after  a  hastily  eaten  breakfast,  all  went 
afloat  and  toiled  on. 


In  the  Later  Days  407 

A  few  hours  later  the  waiting  ships  were  seen. 
It  was  necessary  to  pull  out  around  a  ten-mile 
tongue  of  ice  that  lay  between  them  and  the 
ships,  but  this  was  accomplished  in  spite  of  the 
tremendous  sea  that  they  met  on  the  weather 
side  of  the  point,  and  just  sixty  hours  from  the 
time  of  leaving  the  Victoria,  Captain  Davis  was 
beside  the  Progress,  Captain  Dowden. 

"When  we  got  alongside  I  climbed  up.  I  used 
to  go  to  school  with  Captain  Dowden,"  said 
Captain  Davis. 

"' Hello,  captain,'  says  I. 

"'Hello,  Bill/  says  he.  'I  guess  you  want 
to  stay,  don't  you  ?' 

"I  did. 

"'Well,  I've  got  220  on  board  now.  You'll 
find  better  accommodation  on  that  other  ship 
down  to  leeward.' 

"I  went  to  the  lee  rail.  'Boys,  pass  up  that 
grub  and  bear  a  hand  about  it,  and  then  throw 
off  the  painter,'  I  said. 

"They  just  humped  themselves,  and  the  boat 
was  soon  adrift.  Then  I  walked  aft  to  the  captain 
again. 


408     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"'Captain,'  says  I,  'I  was  just  down  to  the 
rail  to  see  about  going  off  to  the  other  ship,  but 
some  one  had  cast  off  the  painter  and  there  she 
goes  now.' 

"So  we  stayed.  The  fleet  of  seven  vessels 
waited  until  the  next  day,  and  we  counted  up 
around,  after  a  fashion,  to  see  that  none  was 
left,  and  then  made  sail  for  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

"It  is  the  habit  of  the  New  Bedford  owners 
to  go  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  every  fall  to  meet 
the  fleet  and  audit  the  accounts.  It  is  a  pleasant 
excursion  for  them,  and  it  is  good  policy  to  attend 
to  the  business  in  person.  It  took  us  thirty  days 
to  get  there.  The  owners  were  down  on  the  beach 
to  welcome.  Instead  of  casks  of  oil  and  stacks 
of  whalebone  we  discharged  1200  sailors,  penni- 
less, and  with  only  one  shift  of  clothes  each,  before 
the  expectant  owners." 

When  the  whaling  fleet  returned  next  year 
(of  course  a  fleet  did  return.  Twenty-eight 
American  and  four  foreign  whalers  went  there), 
they  found  one  of  the  abandoned  vessels,  the 
Minerva,  afloat  in  Wainwright  Inlet,  as  sound 
in  hull  as  on  the  day  her  crew  left  her.  All  the 


In  the  Later  Days  409 

others  had  been  crushed,  or  stranded,  or  burned 
by  the  natives.  This  ship  had  served,  during 
the  winter,  as  a  home  for  one  sailor,  who  had 
braved  the  danger  in  the  hope  of  making  a  for- 
tune by  saving  bone  from  the  abandoned  ships. 
He  secured  a  plenty  of  the  bone,  but  the  Eskimos 
would  not  let  him  keep  it;  in  fact,  they  would 
have  killed  him  but  for  the  pity  of  their  women, 
who  hid  him  when  the  murderous  mood  was  upon 
them.  When  spring  came,  he  was  glad  to  escape 
to  the  fleet  empty-handed.  The  Minerva  was 
manned  and  taken  south.  She  was  eventually 
sold  and  used  as  a  freighter  to  carry  oil  from  the 
Sandwich  Islands  to  New  Bedford. 

In  1876  twelve  ships  were  caught  by  the  ice. 
"Several  men  perished  in  journeying  from  one 
beleaguered  vessel  to  another,  apparently  more 
safe,  and  many  died  on  the  toilsome,  perilous 
march  to  the  rescuing  ships.  .  .  .  Fifty-three 
remained "  with  the  ships,  rather  than  risk  the 
journey  alongshore  in  search  of  ships  that  were 
clear  of  the  ice,  and  three  hundred  escaped.  The 
men  who  remained  "were  unequal  to  the  exertion 
necessary  to  save  their  lives,"  says  Goode's  Whale 
Fishery. 


410     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

The  story  of  the  Oriole,  mentioned  above  as 
a  ship  that  did  not  follow  the  fleet,  gives  a  good 
idea  of  what  one  may  call  the  every-day  work 
and  losses  of  Arctic  whalers.  Captain  H.  Hayes 
commanded  the  Oriole  that  year,  and  Captain 
Davis  was  his  mate.  Hayes  was  one  of  the  most 
enterprising  captains  of  the  Arctic  fishery.  He 
put  the  Oriole  into  the  ice  ahead  of  all  others, 
and  having  found  open  water  near  the  Siberian 
coast,  he  reached  away  toward  Plover  Bay. 

"There,  I  guess  we've  got  the  best  of  them 
all  this  time,"  he  said  as  the  Oriole  cleared  the 
ice,  and  so  he  had,  for  there  was  not  another 
ship  in  the  open  water,  nor  likely  to  be  for  some 
time.  He  expected  to  have  the  schools  of  whales 
to  be  found  near  Plover  Bay  all  to  himself. 

As  the  day  wore  away  a  cake  of  ice,  as  big  and 
rugged  as  a  New  England  pasture,  was  seen  ahead, 
and  the  captain  pinched  his  ship  up  into  the  wind, 
hoping  to  pass  to  windward  of  it.  Finding, 
after  a  time,  that  this  could  not  be  done,  he  told 
the  man  at  the  wheel  to  "Let  her  go  off."  Off 
she  went  as  merrily  as  the  bird  whose  name  she 
bore,  and  in  a  few  moments  she  was  ploughing 


In  the  Later  Days  411 

down  toward  the  lee  of  the  big  cake  of  ice.  When 
she  arrived  at  the  corner  the  captain  waved  his 
hand  toward  the  man  at  the  wheel  as  a  signal 
to  put  the  helm  down  and  bring  the  vessel  to  her 
course  again.  The  man  did  as  ordered,  but  the 
captain  was  a  bit  vexed  because  he  had  been 
obliged  to  veer  off,  and  it  seemed  to  him  that  she 
was  not  coming  to  the  wind  as  rapidly  as  she  should 
have  done.  Turning  around  he  said  to  the  man: 

"Consarn  it,  put  that  wheel  down." 

The  man  put  the  wheel  hard  down  immedi- 
ately, and  before  any  one  realized  what  was  doing 
the  bark  was  shaving  along  within  a  boat's  length 
of  the  huge  cake. 

"Ease  her  off  a  little!"  shouted  the  captain, 
and  the  man  was  obeying  this  order  when  she 
struck  on  a  point  of  ice  projecting  under  water 
like  the  ram  of  a  man-of-war,  and  with  a  force 
that  almost  threw  her  on  her  beam  ends. 

"By  thunder!"  said  Mr.  Davis;  "if  she  gets 
many  more  blows  like  that,  we'll  be  in  the  boats." 

As  the  vessel  righted  and  continued  on  her 
way  with  speed  unimpaired,  no  one  gave  the 
matter  any  more  thought.  That  night,  however, 


412     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

one  of  the  boat  steerers  had  occasion  to  go  into  the 
hold  for  some  kind  of  gear  for  his  boat.  Opening 
the  hatch  he  went  backing  down  the  ladder  for 
a  few  rounds,  and  then,  turning  quickly,  he  climbed 
up  again,  shouting: 

"Captain  Hayes,  yer  ship's  full  of  water  clean 
up  to  the  deck  beams." 

This  was  almost  true,  but  by  manning  the  pumps 
and  rigging  barrels  in  slings  to  bail  her  the  crew 
managed  to  lower  the  water  until  they  could 
get  at  the  leak.  The  ice  had  made  "basket 
work"  of  a  large  space  on  the  bluff  of  the  bow, 
but  they  covered  the  wound  with  oakum,  canvas, 
etc.,  in  a  way  that  stopped  the  inflow  of  water 
for  the  time  being,  and  then  they  sailed  her  to 
Plover  Bay,  where  they  laid  her  alongside  a  steep 
beach,  discharged  the  cargo  of  all  kinds,  sent 
all  upper  spars  on  shore,  and  hove  her  down. 
The  leak  on  the  port  side  of  the  bow,  where  she 
had  struck  the  ice,  was  soon  repaired.  At  the 
same  time,  however,  it  was  seen  that  some  dam- 
age had  been  done  on  the  starboard  side.  They 
therefore  righted  the  ship,  turned  her  around, 
and  hove  her  down  again.  But  just  when  she 


In  the  Later  Days  413 

was  down  to  the  right  angle,  and  the  carpenter's 
gang  were  ready  to  go  to  work,  the  after-hatch 
broke  in  under  the  pressure  of  the  water,  for  nearly 
half  the  deck  was  below  the  surface  as  she  lay 
on  her  side.  In  three  minutes  she  was  on  the 
bottom  with  only  her  mastheads  out  of  water. 

"There,"  said  Captain  Hayes,  "now  we've 
done  it  for  keeps."  It  was  so.  Nothing  they 
could  do  would  raise  her. 

Hard  as  was  the  life  of  the  whaler  in  the  Arc- 
tic, there  was  a  pleasant  side  to  the  picture,  now 
and  then.  Even  these  castaways  from  the  Oriole 
made  shift  to  enjoy  themselves  in  spite  of  the 
loss  of  the '  ship.  The  stores  were  on  shore. 
The  natives  had  been  hired  to  help  with  the  work 
on  the  ship.  They  had  received  some  rum  and 
liberal  supplies  of  bread  and  molasses,  which 
they  liked  almost  as  well  as  rum.  They  now 
proved  good  providers  of  Arctic  game,  and  the 
crew  went  hunting  for  themselves,  so  that  life 
was  by  no  means  all  hardship  while  they  waited 
for  another  ship  to  appear.  The  trader  Victoria, 
mentioned  above,  was  the  first  vessel  that  came 
to  the  rescue.  When  she  had  finished  her  trad- 


414     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

ing  with  the  Siberians  she  went  over  to  the  Alaska 
coast  and  thus  had  the  misfortune  to  get  caught 
with  the  whaler  fleet  of  that  year. 

Captain  Davis  said  that  even  when  the  ice  was 
coming  in  over  the  shoals  on  the  Alaska  coast, 
just  before  all  hands  were  driven  from  their  ships, 
the  officers  of  the  fleet,  instead  of  bewailing  their 
fate,  managed  to  get  some  comfort  out  of  life 
by  going  ashore,  from  day  to  day,  and  shooting 
wild  fowl.  The  fall  migration  was  at  its  height, 
and  as  Captain  Davis  described  the  flight,  the 
geese  were  so  numerous  that  they  formed  an 
almost  unbroken  procession  "a  few  rods  wide 
and  just  as  long  as  your  eye  could  reach.  That 
sounds  like  a  fish  story,  don't  it  ?  Well,  it's 
the  truth,  just  the  same.  They  were  lower  down 
than  the  eaves  of  a  four-story  house,  and  there 
was  scarcely  a  break  in  the  procession  large  enough 
to  see  a  church  steeple  through,  always  suppos- 
ing that  a  church  steeple  had  been  there,"  said 
the  captain.  "The  number  of  wild  fowl  killed 
was  so  great  that,  on  the  Victoria,  at  least,  the 
men  got  tired  of  them,  and  were  glad  to  get  back 
to  salt  pork  and  beef." 


In  the  Later  Days  415 

With  the  growth  of  the  importance  of  the  Arc- 
tic whaling,  due  to  the  decline  in  the  price  of  oil 
and  the  increase  in  the  price  of  bone,  San  Francisco 
became  the  real  home  port  of  the  American  whal- 
ing fleet,  though  to  this  day  more  whalers  are 
registered  at  New  London  than  at  the  Pacific 
port. 

The  first  whaler  to  sail  from  San  Francisco 
was  the  Popmunnett.  She  cleared  out  for  a 
sperm  voyage  in  1850.  During  thirty  years 
thereafter,  however,  no  more  than  eight  whalers 
were  registered  there  in  any  one  year.  In  the 
meantime,  a  coast  whale  fishery  was  established 
in  California,  beginning  at  Monterey  in  1851. 
The  habit  which  certain  whales  then  had  of 
visiting  sheltered  waters  of  California  and  Lower 
California  (Magdalena  Bay,  for  instance),  to 
bring  forth  their  young,  and  the  migrations  along 
the  coast,  gave  a  great  impetus  to  this  fishery. 
But  the  whales  were  nearly  exterminated,  and 
with  decreasing  production  came  decreasing  prices. 
Neither  the  Arctic  nor  the  coast  fishery  could 
make  a  whaler  port  of  San  Francisco,  until  after 
the  destruction  of  sailing  ships  in  the  Arctic  ice 


416     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

compelled  the  whalers  to  adopt  steam.  It  was 
the  use  of  steam  that  made  San  Francisco  a  popu- 
lar port  with  whalers,  in  the  first  place.  Then  it 
was  seen  that  the  shipment  of  the  crude  oil  across 
the  continent  was  a  large  and,  to  a  great  extent, 
a  needless  expense.  In  1883  "extensive  works 
for  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  whale  and  sperm 
oil"  were  erected  at  that  port,  "thus  enabling 
the  owners  there  located  as  well  as  others  who 
import  oil  at  that  place  to  find  a  market  without 
paying  the  heavy  cost  of  shipping  the  same  to 
the  Atlantic  seaboard."  (The  Whale  Fishery.) 
The  whale  fishery  fleet  of  1883  numbered  125 
all  told,  of  which  number  nineteen  were  registered 
at  San  Francisco.  Thereafter  the  fleet  decreased 
steadily  until  1901,  when  only  forty  American 
vessels  were  employed  in  the  pursuit  of  whales. 
The  last  report  of  the  Commission  of  Navigation 
shows  that  the  fleet  yet  numbers  forty,  and  that 
San  Francisco  owns  eighteen  of  them,  —  twelve 
steamers  and  six  ships  of  the  sail. 

The  space  allotted  to  this  story  is  filled.     We, 
the  reader  and  the  writer,  have  travelled  far  to- 


In  the  Later  Days  417 

gether;  but  the  hold  of  our  ship  is  "all  chocked 
off,"  she  is  "full  up  to  the  hatch  coamings." 
More  whales  might  be  caught,  more  stones  might 
be  told,  but  there  is  no  room  left  for  stowing 
any  kind  of  cargo.  We  must  pass  the  word, 
"All  hands  up  anchor  for  home!"  and  strike  up 
the  chanty  that  was  usually  sung  by  the  crews  on 
such  an  occasion : 

"We're  homeward  bound  to  New  Bedford  town; 

Good-by,  fare  you  well;  good-by,  fare  you  well; 
When  we  get  there  we  will  walk  around; 

Hurrah,  my  boys,  we're  homeward  bound. 

"And  now  our  ship  is  full,  my  boys; 

Good-by,  fare  you  well;  good-by,  fare  you  well; 
We'll  think  of  home  and  all  its  joys; 

Hurrah,  my  boys,  we're  homeward  bound. 

"  It's  when  you  see  those  New  Bedford  girls ; 

Good-by,  fare  you  well;  good-by,  fare  you  well; 
With  their  bright  blue  eyes  and  flowing  curls; 

Hurrah,  my  boys,  we're  homeward  bound. 

"When  we're  paid  off,  we'll  have  a  good  time; 

Good-by,  fare  you  well;  good-by,  fare  you  well; 
The  sparking  of  girls  and  the  drinking  of  wine; 

Hurrah,  my  boys,  we're  homeward  bound. 


41 8     The  Story  of  the  New  England  Whalers 

"We'll  spend  our  money  free  when  we're  on  shore; 

Good-by,  fare  you  well;  good-by,  fare  you  well; 
And  when  it's  all  gone,  we'll  to  sea  for  more; 

Hurrah,  my  boys,  we're  homeward  bound." 


/ 

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